People don't seem to understand that being a picky eater requires a certain level of dedication, determination and discipline. We know what we like, but most importantly, we know what we don't like. We are pros at picking out and/or around ingredients we don't like, and we are perfectly fine eating the same thing over and over again.
1. You're a pro at picking out all of the gross stuff, like bean sprouts and eggs, from your food.
You are so used to having to pick out things from your food that it's become second nature. You can swiftly dissect all of the squishy little peas from your rice in 60 seconds flat. If picking out nasty ingredients ever became an Olympic sport, you'd definitely take home the gold.
2. Three ingredients in any one item is plenty.
Sometimes there's just more ingredients in one dish than should even be legal. If a dish has four or more heterogeneous (meaning they can be easily separated) ingredients, it's too many. How can you really appreciate each of the ingredients when you're trying to notice them all? It's like your taste buds are being assaulted.
3. Sauces and condiments are a "no go."
If the food is really that good, it shouldn't need a ton of sauce anyway right? While you may have one sauce that is acceptable in very certain circumstances - like barbecue sauce on ribs - for the most part, you are perfectly fine with eating your food plain.
4. Going to a new restaurant can be very stressful.
What if they don't have anything you like? What if the menu items aren't in English and I have no idea what anything means except queso? You'd better Google their menu, as well as other places on the way there in case you need to grab some fries to hold you over until you get back home if the menu doesn't look promising.
5. You get nervous when other people offer to cook for you.
What if you don't like it? How can you throw this away without them noticing? While you know lying isn't good, in some cases it's necessary. You've mastered the "I'm not really that hungry, I had a big lunch before I came over" speech in order to avoid having to eat something you don't like and potentially hurting someones feelings.
6. Your friends hate going out to eat with you.
You always have a million questions for the waiter about what exactly is in the dish and how it's cooked. You spend 15 minutes flipping back and forth on the two-sided menu, telling yourself you're going to be adventurous and try something new for once, only to settle on your usual chicken strips and fries. Or, you actually do decide take a leap of faith and try the shrimp primavera pasta but with a few modifications. Substitute the shrimp for chicken, no zucchini, spinach or carrots and you want the sauce on the side.
7. You wouldn't mind eating one thing for the rest of your life because you practically do that anyway.
You're a creature of habit. You know what you like, and it works for you. You're perfectly fine eating different variations of chicken pasta every day of the week.
8. Food absolutely can not touch on your plate.
This is one of the cardinal rules of picky eaters. People who use the motto "it all ends up in the same place" are pretty much uncivilized swine. Just thinking about the juice from your steamed broccoli touching your mac & cheese makes you want to cry. This is why you'd prefer to have items with any drip or running potential in a separate bowl so they can't contaminate anything else.
9. Pizza was not meant to have 23 toppings.
Why do people feel the need to mess with perfection? Keep it simple. Crust. Sauce. Cheese. That's it. Except maybe a few pepperonis if you're feeling particularly wild.
10. Texture matters.
While you may like the flavor of certain foods, if the texture is not quite right you just can't choke it down. With that being said, you have very specific rules about when you will eat certain foods. You can't eat bananas raw, you can only eat them when they are baked into something but you can't eat cooked apples, you can only eat them raw.
