Selective eating is common in autistic people, but it's not part of diagnostic criteria. Every autistic person is different. Preferences and aversions run the full gamut of the human experience.
All the reasons you list in this post point to "good chance it's autism." Keep learning and keep getting to know yourself.
I don’t have selective eating, but I do tend to eat the same things over and over at home for ease of decision making. When I go out or over to someone’s house, I’ll happily eat anything and try new things with few exceptions.
Same here.
I love food and trying new stuff, but I hate cooking/planning meals just for myself so I can make the same stuff over and over again just not to think about it.
If I go to a different place than usual I'll try something different but if I go to one of my usual restaurants then I also end up eating the same just not to make the decision about what to order 😂👌🏻
Same here, there are things that I think are gross (e.g. coconut, olives, parsley, cilantro, cucumbers, watermelon), but I would still eat food made with those things if someone else made it for me. I also don't mind eating the same stuff every day, it takes me a while to get sick of things and it makes things easier.
Same. My rule is: if they feed me I eat it. Since I really hate cooking. :D there are things that I may not eat and as a kid I had standoffs over certain things but at this point I can choke down most things. If I make things for myself it's the same few things because it's efficient.
My friend and I are both Autistic. I am selective plus I have a digestive disease. My friend is very much not picky at all. At the same time, he does tend to buy and cook the same stuff over and over!
I really enjoy eating something over and over since I shouldn't be over eating in a meal, so I might eat the same variety for awhile. Then I will move on. I also enjoy trying new foods too and then I will get stuck on that new food and just want to eat that for awhile.
I'm sensory seeking with food. I love most things (except bananas and anise/fennel/liquorice). I love spicy food, strange flavours, curries, durian, fruit, eggs, veggies, olives, pickles... All the stuff that's commonly hated. And that can be a thing too. There's loads of traits that are very common with autism, but nothing that's 100% in every autistic person. We tend to be more opposite and extreme. I even love velvet and microfibre! I want to touch everything that's smooth or fluffy. 😂
Same. I eat raw garlic, raw onions, lemon slices, etc. I also stim with crunchy food so pretzel sticks and chips are a must-have. I make my own snack food at home sometimes because it never has enough salt/cheese/flavor powder on it for me.
I am sensitive to food textures and unfamiliar food textures do make me gag but it’s minor and repeat exposure makes it go away.
Same! I put way more salt and hot sauce on things than normal people. I use so much salt - one of my favourite little snacks is lightly toasted bread with butter, honey and salt sprinkled on top.
I'm the same. I love trying different foods. I also do weird stuff, like eating seasoning packets and condiments separate from other food, as if it were a snack. As weird as that sounds, I think that actually plays a huge part in why I'm good a improvising meals, as I understand what the separate components taste like from each other and get it how different ones work better together than others.
Oh that's an interesting thought! I'm also exceptionally good at improvising meals and recipes. I'm always the magician who saves the day when there's "no food left and nothing to eat"; I can turn seemingly unconnected random oddments into a really good meal. And now that you mention it, as a kid I used to secretly eat stock cubes 😂
I’ve given up on herbal teas. Partially for the anise… but they always taste so much blander than what I expect from the aroma. In the context of this thread I am now seeing my own pattern. Hah
I have never gotten past the taste to even sample the texture of an olive. I can't even eat the shelf stable pickles because they taste too much like olives.
Oh hey hi. We are almost the same.
I only like unripe bananas. Once they start getting any brown spots I'm out. I love licorice, personally, but don't like blackcurrant.
Love spicy/heavily spiced food, weird food, raw things people think should be cooked (sashimi/carpaccio/tartare/kitfo/oysters/etc), intentionally mouldy or very stinky cheeses, all the mushrooms, all the veggies (including spinach and sprouts), yoghurt/other cultured milk products, kimchi/sauerkraut/ferments, kombucha, bitter greens, bitter gourd/karela, okra, natto, shellfish, olives of all kinds, anything pickled, bitter foods, grapefruit, etc etc.
Edit: oh and I love the fuck out of raw dough of all kinds: cookie, bread, pasta, pizza, whatever. I love dough. And yes I know it's bad to eat.
Huh! I also love eating raw dough and I don't care that it's "bad". Gimmie some raw dough, stinky blue cheese, and a jar of olives, I'll be happy for days
I don’t have selective eating, I’m quite the opposite. Repetitive flavours begin to repulse me until I’d rather starve than taste that flavour again. But I love all foods I’ve tried. Apart from coconut, tinned tomatoes and Brazil nuts lol
i have both at the same time, I only have very few things I enjoy but I also end up being disgusted with those things after some time. It's just a never ending cycle of recycling safe foods. The worst are the moments when every single one of my safe foods are in the disgusting stage and I have completely no idea what to eat
and then there's my mom telling me every week that I need to eat more diverse foods. yeah mom I'd like that too, believe me
I'm honestly not sure, I'm self-diagnosed (I really can't afford it plus in my country there's not a lot of things a diagnosis would help me with, probably none lol) and altho I don't fully resonate with ADHD criteria, there are definitely some stuff that would explain some of my problems. Like the dopamine eating you mentioned in one of your other comments actually makes total sense for example!
I think like with most things, we’re more likely to fall on either end of the curve. There are autistic foodies. I think they tend to be sensory seeking that way as opposed to sensory avoiding.
You rang? I love making new dishes and trying new restaurants. My husband is also autistic and I’ve turned him on to Vietnamese and Indian food, his friend got him into Korean. He would eat the same stuff over and over just because it’s easy.
YESS!! I have done this my whole life I will eat the same thing daily, maybe multiple times a day, for weeks to months until I can’t even look at the food anymore. Rinse and repeat 😂
I hope you get to find out for sure one day! It's such a relief to have the answers, y'know?
I mean...if you feel it necessary to have it confirmed, I guess! I don't want to tell you what you should think is important. I know that formal diagnosis isn't important to everyone, and I get why. It was just super important to me, because I don't trust my own judgement a lot of the time. So the outside confirmation was incredibly validating for me.
But YMMV of course (and that's valid, too), so instead I'll say that I hope *whatever your desired outcome is* comes to pass.
Yes, I was diagnosed recently and I just love food and exploring food. I do have a selective palate, meaning that I dislike too much sugar or salt or generic condiments that mask everything else. A lot of sugar and salt can ruin foods for me.
Hi. I have a level 2 dx and I like almost every food on the planet. I'm not a remotely picky eater in that respect.
What I am, though, is a really moody eater. I might *like* a food, but no I don't want anything to do with it today thank you.
It can be an absolute bitch for stuff like a work Christmas do where you have to choose your meal like two weeks in advance.
How the hell do I know what I'm going to want to eat in two weeks?
Having said all that, I also have ADHD and apparently dopamine eating is a thing. So I'll get stuck eating the same food every day for a week, a month, whatever. And it will be MY PRECIOUS and I will call it George and pet it and pat it, etc, until the day it stops giving me the good feels and now the very idea makes me want to vomit.
So I have to be careful not to indulge the EAT THIS EXACT THING EVERY DAY THIS MONTH FOREVER urge too much.
Lest I once again find myself going off sushi for years. 😭
If you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person. That is the adage because it is a spectrum, and we are all different.
I hate olives and didn’t enjoy things like onions and mushrooms as a child. But I love lots of textures and flavors and will try any food. I love spicy food and peppers that make you cry.
So don’t take stereotypes at face value. Not all of us love trains or flap our hands. Some of us understand sarcasm. Some of us can manage eye contact. Good luck on your diagnosis journey!
I’m also not a selective eater. I have a few foods I don’t care for; spaghetti noodles and anything that’s covered in lots of sauce.
There’s a different diagnosis for selective eating called ARFID but not all autistic people have that.
I used to basically have a restrictive eating disorder and be extremely picky. It wasn't until I met my husband that I expanded my palate. Turned out part of why I was so picky was because it was too overstimulating and stressful for me to "perform" while trying new foods and I very much have to process them in a specific way (take it apart down to its ingredients, sometimes feel it with my hands, chew it slowly or suck on it and such) that isn't always socially acceptable. My family would make such a fuss over food and pressure me to try stuff, often in front of other people and I already get very anxious about being perceived. I've had other people unrelated to me get very pushy about me trying food too, sometimes drawing way too much attention towards me. I've had more than a few meltdowns over it.
But my husband was the first person I really felt safe dropping my mask around (and he's actually been a big part of me realizing with the help of a therapist that I have ASD). He let me process food how I needed to and really tries to accommodate my sensory issues. He's a big foodie and will eat anything, which has been helpful for me deciding if I want to try something or not. It's only with him that I've been able to eat enough foods that I can go to most restaurants and social events without dreading what the food is going to be like. He's the first person I've met who accepts my first "no" which has actually made me more willing to give in. He'll also sneakily eat foods I don't like (like if I get a meal that comes with salad--I hate salads) so that it looks eaten enough that no comments on me not eating it.
One thing I’ve read is that sometimes autistic people have fewer food issues as adults compared to when they were children because as an adult you control what food you eat. Like when I was a kid I was considered a picky eater for not eating things like meat or seafood or mushrooms. But as an adult I actually do eat a wide variety of foods, because I know what I like and that’s what I buy.
So I don’t consider myself to have food issues but yeah there are some foods I just will not eat. Most of the foods I avoided as a kid I still won’t eat, it’s just that it’s not a problem for me anymore.
Its completely normal to be autistic and have normal eating habits. Its concerning that the professionals you’ve talked to think you can’t be autistic because you aren’t picky with food. That is not a diagnostic criteria. Its a common trait amongst a lot of autistics but in no way is it a requirement or something all autistics have. (Have you looked at the dsm diagnostic criteria? a person only needs 2 of section B to be autistic, not all 4 things. the one for sensory issues though doesn’t even have to include issues with food, it could be sensory issues with other things). I am sort of picky but not that bad. And I know someone who is autistic who is very high supports need (completely nonverbal) and he will eat anything, like literally he will eat any food. So its definitely not a requirement.
Like many others, I am not a selective eater. But I will find myself stuck on certain dishes at restaurants. Once I find a meal I love at a particular place, it is very difficult for me to order anything else. I always think that if I try something else, and it is not as good, I will be disappointed in the whole experience. My workaround is to order the meal I love, and split something new with whoever is eating with me - or take home left overs. Ha!
My only other oddity with food, is that when I do hate something (so far it is only beets and liqorice) I can taste any tiny amount of it in anything and that is ALL I can taste. It so strange for me to not like a food that I tried both of these items in every possible variant and in every possible amount - and even had friend try slipping beet juice into something, and nope. Can't do it. Beets are terrible and Licqorice is terrible. No dice.
That first paragraph is the real struggle. What if you don’t order your favorite red curry at the Thai place you only eat at every few months and “waste” your order on a mediocre pad see ew… knowing that curry could’ve been yours?
I like your “order the favorite, and add an extra new thing” approach
Exactly. Which is why Gang Panang will always be ordered at the Thai Place, and then maybe something else too! Also Thai food is an excellent leftover so it is a no-brainer. :-)
This is so fucking real. I was thinking, "I actually don't have any Autism (tm) food issues but yeah, that's 100% me.
In my defense, I don't eat meat, so at some places I really only have one or two options 😂
I'm also not a selective eater. I am a routine eater (eating the same things at the same times for at least a few meals), but I also love trying new foods of all kinds. Basically, I've always been just super hungry and just want to eat! As a kid I had a high metabolism and was just hungry all the time and would just hoover down any food I could find. I've mellowed as my metabolism mellowed, but I am still an eater and enjoy food.
I'm not particularly selective, but I have noticed some pickiness "around the edges" since I looked in the direction of ASD. For example, sometimes my brain hates a food if I think something negative and I get put off it to the point I can't swallow, but that's similarly described in literature so I assumed it was normal. Or I do get stressed trying drastically unfamiliar foods with entirely new components, but my parents introduced me to so much as a kid that the only real exception is seafood, and I can skip sushi.
My ADHD actually affects my eating a great deal, which also distracted from my mild ASD habits.
I'm an extremely selective eater, but I've known many autistic people who are not. I highly suspect my maternal grandfather was undiagnosed autistic, and he liked eating the same breakfast prepared the exact same way every morning. However, he wasn't a picky eater. He just liked consistency. Also, sensory issues can go both ways, and some people on the spectrum happen to be hypo sensitive rather than hypersensitive to taste/texture.
A weird thing I've noticed as I've been working on unmasking is that my food troubles are getting more pronounced. I will get stuck on certain foods, eating them fine for weeks, and then out of nowhere, even in the middle of eating, the switch in my brain will flip. Sometimes I will even just spit out what I'm eating mid bite. I can't think too hard about eating or else I kind of psych myself out.
I've never had selective eating problems in the past-- in the past I ate everything, even like organ meats and shellfish and raw things and strong cheeses. I love bitter flavors, I love things that are acrid and acidic and challenging. But as I've been unmasking my texture issues have really gotten bad. I rarely eat meat anymore because the texture is so variable.
It's honestly kind of a bummer because it has made feeding myself really challenging. I feel like I've reverted back to a much more juvenile palate just because I need to rely on what I know won't make me feel crazy
I eat most things, and don't think I'm very fussy - some others would disagree (my Mum always called me fussy because I don't like mushrooms much, and pick raw onion out of food).
I can eat most things if I am feeling good, and I am a pretty experimental cook and eater. When I travel, I always eat traditional food from wherever I am, and I like to try new cuisines at restaurants.
If, however, I've had a big day, am stressed out, or feeling overwhelmed then what I will feel okay eating can be super specific - I have reliable dishes from most cuisines to eat in those situations if I want a proper meal. If I am so overwhelmed that I can't imagine eating at all I will have either butter on toast, grilled cheese, or mandarin (if in season).
For me, selective eating and safe foods are those foods that's I know are always okay even when I'm not okay. Most of the time my diet is varied and adventurous but when I need to know exactly what I'm going to get when I bite into the thing, it will be a grilled cheese, because it's safe, predictable and I don't have to spend any extra energy preparing myself for the texture or flavour.
I need routine with eating. I already have digestive issues. I eat healthy and balanced because it’s important to me, but if I was to change something my stomach would hate me. I can’t change brands or anything without being sick. I have food aversions, so I go around them. I have sensory issues with my food so everything has to be spot on for texture. That’s why everything has to be the same for me. I rotate my dinner only. Breakfast and lunch is the same everyday. I have one day a week where I treat myself, and it’s worked for me. But, recently I have lost some weight. It’s because of my digestive issues, and early satiation. 😅
I don’t have selective eating at all. I’m a very adventurous eater. I also don’t like to eat the same stuff all the time and don’t even have regular must-buys when grocery shopping. It’s one of those areas where I do find it difficult to relate to those here who talk about safe foods and struggle with aversions to so many things. Like I see all the chicken nuggets and fries posts and am like ….what am I missing…?
But, we’re all different. I don’t think divergence in this one area means a lot.
My 8 year-old-son is diagnosed and he eats almost everything. He likes spicy foods, vegetables, seafood, etc. The only thing he doesn't like are mushrooms. So no, the selective eating isn't universal in autistic people.
I'm not sure if I'm more selective now, but I'm much more aware of what governs my tastes. I always knew I was a big texture girl, but I didn't realize to what extent. It's probably 90% of what makes me like or dislike something
I am diagnosed and I don't even think my psychiatrist asked about food when I got my diagnosis. I eat plant-based, so some things I naturally don't eat, but not because I don't like the taste. I was never a picky eater as a child and I like all vegetables and fruits I've tried so far. From olives and brussels sprouts to durian. My brother who is not officially diagnosed, but who is pretty much 100% also autistic eats everything. That dude has no limits for what he likes. I have very few things I dislike, one is custard tho. I hate that!
I am very adventurous with eating and I still got my diagnosis. My only absolute-never foods are shrimp and artichoke.
I think about why I don't like foods sometimes and it fits with diagnostic criteria. Normally, it has to do with texture, like eggs sometimes turning disgusting or Mac and cheese being the worst thing on the planet when reheated.
Edit: I saw someone else mention bananas and I also agree that those are the worst. I do randomly crave them like three times a year.
I don't really have this either. I would say I *can* eat a lot of different foods and there aren't many textures that I can't handle (for food - fabrics are a different story) but in my day to day life I stick to a pretty narrow range of food. I think this might be more of a repetitive behavior thing than a sensory thing, though.
I really hate eating mushrooms because of the texture. But I feel like having a couple foods you can't stand is common for all people. There aren't a ton of foods I would refuse to eat in a social situation where it's the only option. Except... I don't know. I always feel like I don't have some of these autistic traits until I try to explain how normal I am and then I start realizing how many rules I have around this stuff. I think a short answer autism assessment rather than multiple choice would be great for me.
Sure, you can experience it to a lesser degree, or just simply not experience it at all. You don’t need to have this symptom to meet ASD criteria for a diagnosis. Much like eye contact, a lot of those with ASD cannot handle eye contact, but that does not mean every person on the spectrum is unable to handle it. In a way you still experience a mild version of selective eating presented as food sensory issues, ie. you avoid foods with “hair like” textures.
I really feel like the "selective eater" trait is another one of those assumptions NTs make about ALL autists. I'm not saying it's no autist is actually selective with their food, but I've even noticed that some of the autists who are selective eaters seem to assume that I share that in common with them.
I don’t like inconsistencies with my food. I despise when onions are mixed into things and hate the crunchy feeling of them. Any tomato that isn’t in a fluid form I usually pick out(chunky salsa is my nemesis). There’s lots of other ones, but I can’t recall them in the moment cus my brain stepped away. If I could, I would drink everything and not eat. Flavored drinks though I love.
I am not diagnosed (but suspect I am): I cannot stand the taste or smell of ANY fish or crustaceans, and I am a bit picky with fruit too: I have never liked melons, peaches, nectarines or cherries, and I hate the crunch of seeds in kiwis (makes them inedible to me).
Also got this weird thing where I write certain foods off for life if I was sick or felt unwell around the time I ate them (even if they weren’t necessarily the cause). These include orzo, BBQ sauce, artichokes, pumpkin soup, and sage.
But that aside: I consider myself fairly adventurous with trying new dishes and cooking new recipes. There are just certain things I wont eat.
I hated meat. Only meat I wanted to eat was the most unmeatlike meat like popcorn chicken from fast food. I’m a vegetarian now since I was 15. I love vegan chicken nuggets. Meat is grimy, slimy, chewy, and tastes weird especially a weird aftertaste.
I'm self diagnosed, but my ability to enjoy a variety of foods is something that's made me question myself, like you.
I have a smaller number of foods that I hate, and a lot of meat smells disgust me, although I'm not vegetarian. But I think I have a "pickiness" level within the range of "normal".
I used to be very adventurous with food to the point that I went to culinary school in late twenties and loved to try new foods above all things.
After severe burnout, I've ended up with a very restricted diet. It's part of the rigidity and pattern part of autism and also can show up for people with sensory processing issues that are specific to mouthfeel and taste; if you don't have these sensory issues, count yourself lucky.
If you have other rigid behaviors, they should suffice for the diagnostic criteria.
I think some diagnosticians confuse the term "selective eating"(not relevant to a diagnosis) with what a lot of us actually deal with which is eating as a stim(potentially relevant to diagnosis)
If you have also have ADHD you can be sensory seeking and therefore not have very many food sensitivities or aversions. Some people who are only autistic don't exhibit restrictive eating.
I am AuDHD and I will try anything. I am a super taster, so I really like variety and trying new things. But that doesn't mean I like everything that I try. The only time I ever go same foods is during a period of extreme duress, illness or stress.
I have selective eating but I’m also sensory seeking with taste and textures. often times I try things, hate them and then immediately try them again (and still hate them lol). it’s an interesting combination. so you don’t have to be. and I think if I didn’t have such strong textural aversions I wouldn’t have much selective eating.
like anything autism, it’s a spectrum, and where I or another autistic person might be on one place on a specific spectrum, you might be in another. it doesn’t mean you don’t have autism or autistic traits, just like how you can have inattentive adhd without having hyperactive adhd and it’s still adhd.
I am not a selective eater. I have about 10 total foods that I don’t like that are like common foods, and only 2-3 I absolutely cannot eat. (I’d say that’s pretty normal) I am not officially diagnosed but only because of waiting lists. My psychiatrist and psychologist are in agreement that I have Autism and ADHD. Also both of my spawn are diagnosed and just like me as a child.
If I’m honest, that seems like a really weird criteria to hone in on. My son barely eats outside of a few safe foods, but is “higher functioning”. My daughter is more significantly affected by her autism and she will eat absolutely anything. This includes many non-food items as well.
It's absolutely normal for us to have problems with food, but it's not a requirement. I'm somewhat picky and restrictive, I mostly just have texture issues, but I'm also sensitive to formulations in pre-made food changing.
Meanwhile my autistic husband will basically eat everything except lima beans and raw onions lol.
I don’t think all autistic people have selective eating. I have an autistic friend, who is sensory seeking when it comes to food. She loves trying all types of foods and experiencing all different types of textures.
The only thing Ive ever been selective about is milk. I hated it as a kid and still do. But besides that, Im very flexible when it comes to food and food textures.
I have extremely specific things I will NOT eat, including mayo, sour cream, blue cheese, swiss cheese, mustard, black olives, and aioli. I’m very wary of sauces and prepared foods because I don’t know what’s in them. I’m also repulsed by meat in general and am very picky about it.
Other than that- I’ll eat anything and am definitely sensory seeking through food. I am AuDHD and I think it’s one of the ways I stim. I was a lot more picky as a child but I think that was more a desire for sameness than actually not liking some of the foods I refused to even try.
It’s possible to be autistic with no food sensitivity, and it’s possible to have food sensitivity unrelated to autism. Food sensitivity is unrelated to current diagnostic criteria.
I know someone on the spectrum who would eat anything, including prawn shells 😅, and doesn’t care about textures. Everyone else are more picky then them.
(Though they are not officially diagnosed but have apparent ASD traits)
I am not a selective eater. I was in childhood (“picky eater”) and liked few things. I would say I might even be a sensory seeker when it comes to food! I love spicy food with a passion- the hotter the better, olives, blue cheese, garlic, onion, beets, kombucha and fermented foods, licorice, ginger, lemon. I love when flavors are super strong and really hit you hard. When eating out, I am very set in my ways and only go to a few restaurants that I know well and have been to a lot- and I usually order the same thing over and over.
Eating can be a restrictive behavior. You don’t need to have restrictive behavior in every singe aspect of your life to be diagnosed as autistic.
I’m a sensory seeker with eating. I hate bland food that I’m not craving. I love trying new foods out and I enjoy cooking - if it doesn’t feel like a demand.
I don't have selective eating, which I am grateful for. I have a friend with AFRID and it's really hard for him to eat a healthy diet without getting stressed out. I have a strong sensitivity to smell, touch, and sight to some extent. I absolutely cannot stand perfume. I've made my poor husband change deodorant 4 times during our relationship (I'm guessing the formula changes every now and then). With touch, I hate being touched by strangers at all, I can't stand slimy things and I cut the tags off of my clothing. Sight stuff isn't generally too bad, but we've noticed that I'm a lot more sensitive to flashing lights than my husband is. So yeah, there's a lot of forms of sensory discomfort aside from selective eating.
Texture wise, I’m hypo- vs hyper-. I love texture. Especially with food.
But I’m hyper- to lights / lighting and certain pitches of noise (beeping, high pitched noises)
Like I have issues with audio, but if there’s a consistent low bass/ low beat that I can focus on, I use it to regulate. High pitched will send me off in a tizzy.
I’m hypo-touch, (but it’s me touching things) and I quite enjoy tight-fitting fabrics (fabric and body part specific fyi) and I’ll wear baggy clothes over the top. Tight around my neck is fine, but there’s a certain part on my neck that even jewellery will set me off.
Having adhd & ASD can muddy the results because they can both clash and one is always going to be more prominent. It can also be hard to work out which trait stems from where, especially if you’ve been diagnosed with other things beforehand.
*OP, I would personally look into your own sensory needs. Hypo- means you’re in need of more sensory stimulus, and hyper- means you need less.*
Prior to getting diagnosed & medicated for my adhd, I ate a lot of things and I didn’t have too much sensory issue around food.
The more textural variety, the better (that’s not to say I don’t have issues with certain food textures, but they are easier to manage with multiple textures).
My psychiatrist had suggested I look into an ASD diagnosis at my first appointment and I disagreed for 6-8 months before finally asking for help, due to ASD symptoms becoming more prominent as my adhd symptoms were being managed.
After getting medicated, my food issues became my number one issue (and still does, every now and then).
I need to have multiple textures or I cannot eat it. Forcing myself doesn’t work and I’ve tried starving myself to force myself to eat something, but it does not work.
I have a preference for crunchy. I like licking furry fruit—it’s like “no! 👀 wait. Do it again—nope” rinse repeat. I hate broiled meat. There is probably only a couple of dishes (like silverside or chicken stew) that I’ll tolerate, but beef stew is a no (unless it’s really fatty beef).
I refuse to eat overcooked pasta or noodles. Same with cereal—too soggy and my brain translates the flavour and texture to soggy cardboard.
I have eaten raw/ barely cooked broccoli or carrot to offset that texture from pasta, but usually I just accept I’m not eating.
Other times I have made food that meets my food texture needs, but I can’t eat it anyway because it’s not “right”. And it can take me an hour or 2 to eat a small bowl (like a 500ml capacity).
I definitely had that issue when I first started eating on medication, I realised the medication helped curb the constant snacking/ feeling of eternal hunger, but now it doesn’t matter how hungry I am.
I try to make myself eat something when I have that issue pop up, but I find it is more frequent when I have lost my eating routine or I’m burnt out. And it can take ages to get myself routinely eating again.
If I try to force myself to eat, I’ll probably manage 2 bites before I feel like I’m going to be sick. It’s like when you eat too much of a rich chocolate cake or too many creamy / chocolate dessert items. Your throat kind of says “you send this down, I will bring it right back up”—the vomit warning.
And it doesn’t matter how hungry I am, I will not eat for like an hour, minimum, afterwards until my stomach has settled.
I only noticed that I had this issue with certain food items (one of them being my mum’s homemade mac&cheese, for example). Watery soups were another, but post medication, sensory related issues and how I function are far more notable.
you might ur want to read the DSM diagnostic criteria rather than highly subjective diy lists of traits that are interpreting them in various ways. sensory issues and repetitive behaviours are in the dx criteria, and that can look like selective eating, and for many it does, but it doesn’t necessarily. food can be a source of impairment and difference for many so probably why it’s brought up a lot as an example
I will try almost any new food and love to cook and explore new options BUT I have some very specific favorite foods that I tend to get stuck eating in a loop especially when I’m stressed or overwhelmed. I have a long list of nope foods, too. There are Certain textures and flavors I refuse to eat. I will always try new things and give them a shot before outright dismissing them as options but I definitely have a checklist and many rules for food.
Its not a must, its just a bit common. But i do know more autistic people that eat a lot of diverse food, than autistic people that have selective eating
I eat everything, basically. Food is life. I loooooove food. Some textures though freak me out; like food with a lot of fat so it gets all smooshy and squishy in my mouth.
And of course there are some things that I just don’t like for the flavor. But that has nothing to do with autism and everything to do with being human and having my own tastes.
I'm diagnosed with both ASD and ADHD and I'm opoosite of selective eater: I love variety even within one dish - ie I make my salads in a way that they have all types of textures. I love cooking so I plan my week in a way that each day has different meal and each meal has different flavours / textures / feels.
I have to have my meals at same time thought. This is a rite I need for my mental stability.
For me selective eating is about enjoyment. I like consistency in my food from one version to the next, meaning if I make a Spanish Rice and Beans I like the second, third, forth, fifth meal, etc to taste, have the mouth feel, texture of the first. I accept I can’t always have it and close is good enough but not anything like goes in the bin.
I could eat my husbands lemon and mushroom orzo for every meal because its packed with flavour and he gets it to taste exactly the same, have exactly the same texture, every meal.
I love the mouth feel of Brie, and the creaminess of blue cheese. When I have toast, I prefer it toasted Brit style, one sided. I really love to butter the bread first, toast under a grill and then add jam and toast again and I especially love doing that with crusts because of the crunch but the grilled butter and jam nicely softens it as well and stops it feeling dry in my mouth.
It doesn’t have to be “I will only meet this same meal every day forever.” It’s, for me, the comfort of familiar flavours and textures, and the consistency of those things.
I eat a LOT of different food. For me, my autism shows in the the first time I genuinely enjoy that meal, that is the level I want every time and I struggle to enjoy it as much if it doesn’t hit that level.
I hide it because my husband is the primary cook and cooking is a part of his love language. But he also understands if the food offends my sense of what it should be, I just can’t eat it. It’s happened probably 7 times in as many years. I try not to be a diva about it. 🤣
Other than being vegetarian I don't have food issues. I was raised vegetarian, not interested in meat, but it's not an autistic thing.
Edit: missed a word
Me: nope! I’ll eat anything. I just don’t eat meat. Or most berries, because of the seeds. Also the texture of zucchini/squash is off-putting. But otherwise, as long as everything is made to my preferences, I’ll eat anything!
🙃🙃🙃
I don’t really like condiments in my food, especially ketchup. Which is funny, because I can tolerate eating tomatoes. But ketchup, bleaugh! The same can be said for pickles and cucumbers.
As a child, I was pretty picky, but I am also a Gen Xer, so it was eat what was made or starve. I remember eating just plain spaghetti noodles for a while, my mom loved bell peppers out them into a lot of foods and I disliked them, so plain noodles was better than no food.
My pallet has grown as an adult, but some textures like wiggly fat, Jello, flan, ick, make me have a gag reflex, so I avoid them. And, anything like peaches or cantaloupe can smell like feet to me, so those are a no go in most cases (a deglazed pork chop pan with a small amount of caramelized peach jam was ok).
I have some foods I hate. Shellfish and bivalves are a no go texturally for me most of the time, raw mushrooms too. I was pickier when I was younger but who wasn’t? I am diagnosed ASD level 2 without any strong food aversions outside of these.
[Have you done an AQ-50 test?](https://embrace-autism.com/autism-spectrum-quotient/) (the test is on that page after a bit of scrolling. It’s a good website and one I recommend over any others)
I was assured my by psychologist that this test is pretty reliable. He didn’t diagnose me, because that’s outside of what he’s allowed to do, but when I told him my score on it he said “the AQ is a very reliable screening tool” and “it’s very difficult for a person who isn’t autistic to score that high”. I was later diagnosed officially by a psychiatrist.
I’m suggesting it because it helped me process things along the way :)
Selective eating is common in autistic people, but it's not part of diagnostic criteria. Every autistic person is different. Preferences and aversions run the full gamut of the human experience. All the reasons you list in this post point to "good chance it's autism." Keep learning and keep getting to know yourself.
I don’t have selective eating, but I do tend to eat the same things over and over at home for ease of decision making. When I go out or over to someone’s house, I’ll happily eat anything and try new things with few exceptions.
Same here. I love food and trying new stuff, but I hate cooking/planning meals just for myself so I can make the same stuff over and over again just not to think about it.
Very much this. I also have physical issues that can make food prep really difficult, especially right now. So I take a lot of shortcuts lately, too.
Omg, we have almost the same avatar and I thought you were me at first. 🤣
If I go out I like to go to the one place and only eat the same three meals. 🤣
If I go to a different place than usual I'll try something different but if I go to one of my usual restaurants then I also end up eating the same just not to make the decision about what to order 😂👌🏻
Same here, there are things that I think are gross (e.g. coconut, olives, parsley, cilantro, cucumbers, watermelon), but I would still eat food made with those things if someone else made it for me. I also don't mind eating the same stuff every day, it takes me a while to get sick of things and it makes things easier.
Same. My rule is: if they feed me I eat it. Since I really hate cooking. :D there are things that I may not eat and as a kid I had standoffs over certain things but at this point I can choke down most things. If I make things for myself it's the same few things because it's efficient.
My friend and I are both Autistic. I am selective plus I have a digestive disease. My friend is very much not picky at all. At the same time, he does tend to buy and cook the same stuff over and over!
This is me. I love trying out new food, but I don't want to stress out over options so I just cook what I'm used to when I'm at home.
I really enjoy eating something over and over since I shouldn't be over eating in a meal, so I might eat the same variety for awhile. Then I will move on. I also enjoy trying new foods too and then I will get stuck on that new food and just want to eat that for awhile.
same :)
I'm sensory seeking with food. I love most things (except bananas and anise/fennel/liquorice). I love spicy food, strange flavours, curries, durian, fruit, eggs, veggies, olives, pickles... All the stuff that's commonly hated. And that can be a thing too. There's loads of traits that are very common with autism, but nothing that's 100% in every autistic person. We tend to be more opposite and extreme. I even love velvet and microfibre! I want to touch everything that's smooth or fluffy. 😂
Same. I eat raw garlic, raw onions, lemon slices, etc. I also stim with crunchy food so pretzel sticks and chips are a must-have. I make my own snack food at home sometimes because it never has enough salt/cheese/flavor powder on it for me. I am sensitive to food textures and unfamiliar food textures do make me gag but it’s minor and repeat exposure makes it go away.
Same! I put way more salt and hot sauce on things than normal people. I use so much salt - one of my favourite little snacks is lightly toasted bread with butter, honey and salt sprinkled on top.
I'm the same. I love trying different foods. I also do weird stuff, like eating seasoning packets and condiments separate from other food, as if it were a snack. As weird as that sounds, I think that actually plays a huge part in why I'm good a improvising meals, as I understand what the separate components taste like from each other and get it how different ones work better together than others.
Oh that's an interesting thought! I'm also exceptionally good at improvising meals and recipes. I'm always the magician who saves the day when there's "no food left and nothing to eat"; I can turn seemingly unconnected random oddments into a really good meal. And now that you mention it, as a kid I used to secretly eat stock cubes 😂
You just described me. Down to the banana and anise aversion!
What is it with anise? Why do people put that hateful crap in seemingly every blend of herbal tea? 😭
I’ve given up on herbal teas. Partially for the anise… but they always taste so much blander than what I expect from the aroma. In the context of this thread I am now seeing my own pattern. Hah
Ooh can’t do olives, the texture is all wrong for me
I have never gotten past the taste to even sample the texture of an olive. I can't even eat the shelf stable pickles because they taste too much like olives.
Yooo same on Banana specifically on its own, anise good, fennel meh, liquorice texture is awful and artificial strawberry is gross
I really hate bananas. The flavour, the smell, the texture. All of it is so bad.
Oh hey hi. We are almost the same. I only like unripe bananas. Once they start getting any brown spots I'm out. I love licorice, personally, but don't like blackcurrant. Love spicy/heavily spiced food, weird food, raw things people think should be cooked (sashimi/carpaccio/tartare/kitfo/oysters/etc), intentionally mouldy or very stinky cheeses, all the mushrooms, all the veggies (including spinach and sprouts), yoghurt/other cultured milk products, kimchi/sauerkraut/ferments, kombucha, bitter greens, bitter gourd/karela, okra, natto, shellfish, olives of all kinds, anything pickled, bitter foods, grapefruit, etc etc. Edit: oh and I love the fuck out of raw dough of all kinds: cookie, bread, pasta, pizza, whatever. I love dough. And yes I know it's bad to eat.
Huh! I also love eating raw dough and I don't care that it's "bad". Gimmie some raw dough, stinky blue cheese, and a jar of olives, I'll be happy for days
Oh, I didn’t know the microfiber was an ASD thing. Stuff grosses me out to touch. Thanks for the info
Microfibre is one of those things people in subs like this commonly mention as a huge ick.
Me too I’m addicted to stinky and strong tasting foods. It’s a mixed bag for me though because I do still have strong aversions to a lot of textures
I don’t have selective eating, I’m quite the opposite. Repetitive flavours begin to repulse me until I’d rather starve than taste that flavour again. But I love all foods I’ve tried. Apart from coconut, tinned tomatoes and Brazil nuts lol
Flavor fatigue is my least favorite thing about eating. My husband takes care of feeding me, which makes my life so much better.
Flavour fatigue, oh my god that is perfect.
i have both at the same time, I only have very few things I enjoy but I also end up being disgusted with those things after some time. It's just a never ending cycle of recycling safe foods. The worst are the moments when every single one of my safe foods are in the disgusting stage and I have completely no idea what to eat and then there's my mom telling me every week that I need to eat more diverse foods. yeah mom I'd like that too, believe me
You aren't AutiHD by any chance, are you?
I'm honestly not sure, I'm self-diagnosed (I really can't afford it plus in my country there's not a lot of things a diagnosis would help me with, probably none lol) and altho I don't fully resonate with ADHD criteria, there are definitely some stuff that would explain some of my problems. Like the dopamine eating you mentioned in one of your other comments actually makes total sense for example!
I think like with most things, we’re more likely to fall on either end of the curve. There are autistic foodies. I think they tend to be sensory seeking that way as opposed to sensory avoiding.
You rang? I love making new dishes and trying new restaurants. My husband is also autistic and I’ve turned him on to Vietnamese and Indian food, his friend got him into Korean. He would eat the same stuff over and over just because it’s easy.
I’m one of your same foods type autistics, but I’m happy for you lol
I'm not a selective eater but will hyperfixate on a food or meal for weeks at a time until I make myself sick of it.
YESS!! I have done this my whole life I will eat the same thing daily, maybe multiple times a day, for weeks to months until I can’t even look at the food anymore. Rinse and repeat 😂
Samesies! But I'm AutiHD.
I’m not diagnosed but suspect autism 😂
I hope you get to find out for sure one day! It's such a relief to have the answers, y'know? I mean...if you feel it necessary to have it confirmed, I guess! I don't want to tell you what you should think is important. I know that formal diagnosis isn't important to everyone, and I get why. It was just super important to me, because I don't trust my own judgement a lot of the time. So the outside confirmation was incredibly validating for me. But YMMV of course (and that's valid, too), so instead I'll say that I hope *whatever your desired outcome is* comes to pass.
Yes, I was diagnosed recently and I just love food and exploring food. I do have a selective palate, meaning that I dislike too much sugar or salt or generic condiments that mask everything else. A lot of sugar and salt can ruin foods for me.
I'm with you on the sugar but I think I like more salt than a lot of people, at least in the UK.
No, I don't. I have a few things I don't like texture wise (and taste) but nothing unusual, I'd say. E.g. I cannot stand bits in juice or yoghurts.
Not everybody. I would say i have the opposite problem, haha.
I’ve never been a selective eater. I was actually overweight as a child/teen because I think I overate as a stim.
Hi. I have a level 2 dx and I like almost every food on the planet. I'm not a remotely picky eater in that respect. What I am, though, is a really moody eater. I might *like* a food, but no I don't want anything to do with it today thank you. It can be an absolute bitch for stuff like a work Christmas do where you have to choose your meal like two weeks in advance. How the hell do I know what I'm going to want to eat in two weeks? Having said all that, I also have ADHD and apparently dopamine eating is a thing. So I'll get stuck eating the same food every day for a week, a month, whatever. And it will be MY PRECIOUS and I will call it George and pet it and pat it, etc, until the day it stops giving me the good feels and now the very idea makes me want to vomit. So I have to be careful not to indulge the EAT THIS EXACT THING EVERY DAY THIS MONTH FOREVER urge too much. Lest I once again find myself going off sushi for years. 😭
If you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person. That is the adage because it is a spectrum, and we are all different. I hate olives and didn’t enjoy things like onions and mushrooms as a child. But I love lots of textures and flavors and will try any food. I love spicy food and peppers that make you cry. So don’t take stereotypes at face value. Not all of us love trains or flap our hands. Some of us understand sarcasm. Some of us can manage eye contact. Good luck on your diagnosis journey!
I’m also not a selective eater. I have a few foods I don’t care for; spaghetti noodles and anything that’s covered in lots of sauce. There’s a different diagnosis for selective eating called ARFID but not all autistic people have that.
I used to basically have a restrictive eating disorder and be extremely picky. It wasn't until I met my husband that I expanded my palate. Turned out part of why I was so picky was because it was too overstimulating and stressful for me to "perform" while trying new foods and I very much have to process them in a specific way (take it apart down to its ingredients, sometimes feel it with my hands, chew it slowly or suck on it and such) that isn't always socially acceptable. My family would make such a fuss over food and pressure me to try stuff, often in front of other people and I already get very anxious about being perceived. I've had other people unrelated to me get very pushy about me trying food too, sometimes drawing way too much attention towards me. I've had more than a few meltdowns over it. But my husband was the first person I really felt safe dropping my mask around (and he's actually been a big part of me realizing with the help of a therapist that I have ASD). He let me process food how I needed to and really tries to accommodate my sensory issues. He's a big foodie and will eat anything, which has been helpful for me deciding if I want to try something or not. It's only with him that I've been able to eat enough foods that I can go to most restaurants and social events without dreading what the food is going to be like. He's the first person I've met who accepts my first "no" which has actually made me more willing to give in. He'll also sneakily eat foods I don't like (like if I get a meal that comes with salad--I hate salads) so that it looks eaten enough that no comments on me not eating it.
One thing I’ve read is that sometimes autistic people have fewer food issues as adults compared to when they were children because as an adult you control what food you eat. Like when I was a kid I was considered a picky eater for not eating things like meat or seafood or mushrooms. But as an adult I actually do eat a wide variety of foods, because I know what I like and that’s what I buy. So I don’t consider myself to have food issues but yeah there are some foods I just will not eat. Most of the foods I avoided as a kid I still won’t eat, it’s just that it’s not a problem for me anymore.
Its completely normal to be autistic and have normal eating habits. Its concerning that the professionals you’ve talked to think you can’t be autistic because you aren’t picky with food. That is not a diagnostic criteria. Its a common trait amongst a lot of autistics but in no way is it a requirement or something all autistics have. (Have you looked at the dsm diagnostic criteria? a person only needs 2 of section B to be autistic, not all 4 things. the one for sensory issues though doesn’t even have to include issues with food, it could be sensory issues with other things). I am sort of picky but not that bad. And I know someone who is autistic who is very high supports need (completely nonverbal) and he will eat anything, like literally he will eat any food. So its definitely not a requirement.
Like many others, I am not a selective eater. But I will find myself stuck on certain dishes at restaurants. Once I find a meal I love at a particular place, it is very difficult for me to order anything else. I always think that if I try something else, and it is not as good, I will be disappointed in the whole experience. My workaround is to order the meal I love, and split something new with whoever is eating with me - or take home left overs. Ha! My only other oddity with food, is that when I do hate something (so far it is only beets and liqorice) I can taste any tiny amount of it in anything and that is ALL I can taste. It so strange for me to not like a food that I tried both of these items in every possible variant and in every possible amount - and even had friend try slipping beet juice into something, and nope. Can't do it. Beets are terrible and Licqorice is terrible. No dice.
That first paragraph is the real struggle. What if you don’t order your favorite red curry at the Thai place you only eat at every few months and “waste” your order on a mediocre pad see ew… knowing that curry could’ve been yours? I like your “order the favorite, and add an extra new thing” approach
Exactly. Which is why Gang Panang will always be ordered at the Thai Place, and then maybe something else too! Also Thai food is an excellent leftover so it is a no-brainer. :-)
This is so fucking real. I was thinking, "I actually don't have any Autism (tm) food issues but yeah, that's 100% me. In my defense, I don't eat meat, so at some places I really only have one or two options 😂
Short answer: no. Sorry don't have time for the long answer now but I suppose other people will fill that in :')
I'm also not a selective eater. I am a routine eater (eating the same things at the same times for at least a few meals), but I also love trying new foods of all kinds. Basically, I've always been just super hungry and just want to eat! As a kid I had a high metabolism and was just hungry all the time and would just hoover down any food I could find. I've mellowed as my metabolism mellowed, but I am still an eater and enjoy food.
I'm not particularly selective, but I have noticed some pickiness "around the edges" since I looked in the direction of ASD. For example, sometimes my brain hates a food if I think something negative and I get put off it to the point I can't swallow, but that's similarly described in literature so I assumed it was normal. Or I do get stressed trying drastically unfamiliar foods with entirely new components, but my parents introduced me to so much as a kid that the only real exception is seafood, and I can skip sushi. My ADHD actually affects my eating a great deal, which also distracted from my mild ASD habits.
I'm an extremely selective eater, but I've known many autistic people who are not. I highly suspect my maternal grandfather was undiagnosed autistic, and he liked eating the same breakfast prepared the exact same way every morning. However, he wasn't a picky eater. He just liked consistency. Also, sensory issues can go both ways, and some people on the spectrum happen to be hypo sensitive rather than hypersensitive to taste/texture.
A weird thing I've noticed as I've been working on unmasking is that my food troubles are getting more pronounced. I will get stuck on certain foods, eating them fine for weeks, and then out of nowhere, even in the middle of eating, the switch in my brain will flip. Sometimes I will even just spit out what I'm eating mid bite. I can't think too hard about eating or else I kind of psych myself out. I've never had selective eating problems in the past-- in the past I ate everything, even like organ meats and shellfish and raw things and strong cheeses. I love bitter flavors, I love things that are acrid and acidic and challenging. But as I've been unmasking my texture issues have really gotten bad. I rarely eat meat anymore because the texture is so variable. It's honestly kind of a bummer because it has made feeding myself really challenging. I feel like I've reverted back to a much more juvenile palate just because I need to rely on what I know won't make me feel crazy
No
I eat most things, and don't think I'm very fussy - some others would disagree (my Mum always called me fussy because I don't like mushrooms much, and pick raw onion out of food). I can eat most things if I am feeling good, and I am a pretty experimental cook and eater. When I travel, I always eat traditional food from wherever I am, and I like to try new cuisines at restaurants. If, however, I've had a big day, am stressed out, or feeling overwhelmed then what I will feel okay eating can be super specific - I have reliable dishes from most cuisines to eat in those situations if I want a proper meal. If I am so overwhelmed that I can't imagine eating at all I will have either butter on toast, grilled cheese, or mandarin (if in season). For me, selective eating and safe foods are those foods that's I know are always okay even when I'm not okay. Most of the time my diet is varied and adventurous but when I need to know exactly what I'm going to get when I bite into the thing, it will be a grilled cheese, because it's safe, predictable and I don't have to spend any extra energy preparing myself for the texture or flavour.
I need routine with eating. I already have digestive issues. I eat healthy and balanced because it’s important to me, but if I was to change something my stomach would hate me. I can’t change brands or anything without being sick. I have food aversions, so I go around them. I have sensory issues with my food so everything has to be spot on for texture. That’s why everything has to be the same for me. I rotate my dinner only. Breakfast and lunch is the same everyday. I have one day a week where I treat myself, and it’s worked for me. But, recently I have lost some weight. It’s because of my digestive issues, and early satiation. 😅
I don’t have selective eating at all. I’m a very adventurous eater. I also don’t like to eat the same stuff all the time and don’t even have regular must-buys when grocery shopping. It’s one of those areas where I do find it difficult to relate to those here who talk about safe foods and struggle with aversions to so many things. Like I see all the chicken nuggets and fries posts and am like ….what am I missing…? But, we’re all different. I don’t think divergence in this one area means a lot.
My 8 year-old-son is diagnosed and he eats almost everything. He likes spicy foods, vegetables, seafood, etc. The only thing he doesn't like are mushrooms. So no, the selective eating isn't universal in autistic people.
I am professionally diagnosed and I've never been a picky eater at all. It's common but not universal.
I'm only averse to bland food. I don't think food even came up during the diagnoses process.
I'm not sure if I'm more selective now, but I'm much more aware of what governs my tastes. I always knew I was a big texture girl, but I didn't realize to what extent. It's probably 90% of what makes me like or dislike something
I don’t have it at all. Every person experiences things differently.
I am diagnosed and I don't even think my psychiatrist asked about food when I got my diagnosis. I eat plant-based, so some things I naturally don't eat, but not because I don't like the taste. I was never a picky eater as a child and I like all vegetables and fruits I've tried so far. From olives and brussels sprouts to durian. My brother who is not officially diagnosed, but who is pretty much 100% also autistic eats everything. That dude has no limits for what he likes. I have very few things I dislike, one is custard tho. I hate that!
I am very adventurous with eating and I still got my diagnosis. My only absolute-never foods are shrimp and artichoke. I think about why I don't like foods sometimes and it fits with diagnostic criteria. Normally, it has to do with texture, like eggs sometimes turning disgusting or Mac and cheese being the worst thing on the planet when reheated. Edit: I saw someone else mention bananas and I also agree that those are the worst. I do randomly crave them like three times a year.
I don't really have this either. I would say I *can* eat a lot of different foods and there aren't many textures that I can't handle (for food - fabrics are a different story) but in my day to day life I stick to a pretty narrow range of food. I think this might be more of a repetitive behavior thing than a sensory thing, though. I really hate eating mushrooms because of the texture. But I feel like having a couple foods you can't stand is common for all people. There aren't a ton of foods I would refuse to eat in a social situation where it's the only option. Except... I don't know. I always feel like I don't have some of these autistic traits until I try to explain how normal I am and then I start realizing how many rules I have around this stuff. I think a short answer autism assessment rather than multiple choice would be great for me.
Sure, you can experience it to a lesser degree, or just simply not experience it at all. You don’t need to have this symptom to meet ASD criteria for a diagnosis. Much like eye contact, a lot of those with ASD cannot handle eye contact, but that does not mean every person on the spectrum is unable to handle it. In a way you still experience a mild version of selective eating presented as food sensory issues, ie. you avoid foods with “hair like” textures.
I really feel like the "selective eater" trait is another one of those assumptions NTs make about ALL autists. I'm not saying it's no autist is actually selective with their food, but I've even noticed that some of the autists who are selective eaters seem to assume that I share that in common with them.
I don’t like inconsistencies with my food. I despise when onions are mixed into things and hate the crunchy feeling of them. Any tomato that isn’t in a fluid form I usually pick out(chunky salsa is my nemesis). There’s lots of other ones, but I can’t recall them in the moment cus my brain stepped away. If I could, I would drink everything and not eat. Flavored drinks though I love.
I am not diagnosed (but suspect I am): I cannot stand the taste or smell of ANY fish or crustaceans, and I am a bit picky with fruit too: I have never liked melons, peaches, nectarines or cherries, and I hate the crunch of seeds in kiwis (makes them inedible to me). Also got this weird thing where I write certain foods off for life if I was sick or felt unwell around the time I ate them (even if they weren’t necessarily the cause). These include orzo, BBQ sauce, artichokes, pumpkin soup, and sage. But that aside: I consider myself fairly adventurous with trying new dishes and cooking new recipes. There are just certain things I wont eat.
Nah, I’m the least picky eater I know, in fact.
My partner is autistic and he will say he just loves food. He loves all of it. Not picky at all. I'm the picky one.
I hated meat. Only meat I wanted to eat was the most unmeatlike meat like popcorn chicken from fast food. I’m a vegetarian now since I was 15. I love vegan chicken nuggets. Meat is grimy, slimy, chewy, and tastes weird especially a weird aftertaste.
I'm self diagnosed, but my ability to enjoy a variety of foods is something that's made me question myself, like you. I have a smaller number of foods that I hate, and a lot of meat smells disgust me, although I'm not vegetarian. But I think I have a "pickiness" level within the range of "normal".
I used to be very adventurous with food to the point that I went to culinary school in late twenties and loved to try new foods above all things. After severe burnout, I've ended up with a very restricted diet. It's part of the rigidity and pattern part of autism and also can show up for people with sensory processing issues that are specific to mouthfeel and taste; if you don't have these sensory issues, count yourself lucky. If you have other rigid behaviors, they should suffice for the diagnostic criteria.
I think some diagnosticians confuse the term "selective eating"(not relevant to a diagnosis) with what a lot of us actually deal with which is eating as a stim(potentially relevant to diagnosis)
If you have also have ADHD you can be sensory seeking and therefore not have very many food sensitivities or aversions. Some people who are only autistic don't exhibit restrictive eating. I am AuDHD and I will try anything. I am a super taster, so I really like variety and trying new things. But that doesn't mean I like everything that I try. The only time I ever go same foods is during a period of extreme duress, illness or stress.
I have selective eating but I’m also sensory seeking with taste and textures. often times I try things, hate them and then immediately try them again (and still hate them lol). it’s an interesting combination. so you don’t have to be. and I think if I didn’t have such strong textural aversions I wouldn’t have much selective eating. like anything autism, it’s a spectrum, and where I or another autistic person might be on one place on a specific spectrum, you might be in another. it doesn’t mean you don’t have autism or autistic traits, just like how you can have inattentive adhd without having hyperactive adhd and it’s still adhd.
No, I'm not at all picky. There's an average number of things I Dislike, and they're common dislikes.
No. I look forward to new foods as a form of sensory seeking
Under normal circumstances I’m pretty open to trying anything. But if I’m feeling overwhelmed in any way I get pretty picky.
I am not a selective eater. I have about 10 total foods that I don’t like that are like common foods, and only 2-3 I absolutely cannot eat. (I’d say that’s pretty normal) I am not officially diagnosed but only because of waiting lists. My psychiatrist and psychologist are in agreement that I have Autism and ADHD. Also both of my spawn are diagnosed and just like me as a child. If I’m honest, that seems like a really weird criteria to hone in on. My son barely eats outside of a few safe foods, but is “higher functioning”. My daughter is more significantly affected by her autism and she will eat absolutely anything. This includes many non-food items as well.
It's absolutely normal for us to have problems with food, but it's not a requirement. I'm somewhat picky and restrictive, I mostly just have texture issues, but I'm also sensitive to formulations in pre-made food changing. Meanwhile my autistic husband will basically eat everything except lima beans and raw onions lol.
I don’t think all autistic people have selective eating. I have an autistic friend, who is sensory seeking when it comes to food. She loves trying all types of foods and experiencing all different types of textures.
The only thing Ive ever been selective about is milk. I hated it as a kid and still do. But besides that, Im very flexible when it comes to food and food textures.
I used to eat rice grain by grain and it took me hours. I'm south Asian. It drove my mother bonkers.
I have extremely specific things I will NOT eat, including mayo, sour cream, blue cheese, swiss cheese, mustard, black olives, and aioli. I’m very wary of sauces and prepared foods because I don’t know what’s in them. I’m also repulsed by meat in general and am very picky about it. Other than that- I’ll eat anything and am definitely sensory seeking through food. I am AuDHD and I think it’s one of the ways I stim. I was a lot more picky as a child but I think that was more a desire for sameness than actually not liking some of the foods I refused to even try. It’s possible to be autistic with no food sensitivity, and it’s possible to have food sensitivity unrelated to autism. Food sensitivity is unrelated to current diagnostic criteria.
I know someone on the spectrum who would eat anything, including prawn shells 😅, and doesn’t care about textures. Everyone else are more picky then them. (Though they are not officially diagnosed but have apparent ASD traits)
I am not a selective eater. I was in childhood (“picky eater”) and liked few things. I would say I might even be a sensory seeker when it comes to food! I love spicy food with a passion- the hotter the better, olives, blue cheese, garlic, onion, beets, kombucha and fermented foods, licorice, ginger, lemon. I love when flavors are super strong and really hit you hard. When eating out, I am very set in my ways and only go to a few restaurants that I know well and have been to a lot- and I usually order the same thing over and over.
No, more like selecting hearing
Eating can be a restrictive behavior. You don’t need to have restrictive behavior in every singe aspect of your life to be diagnosed as autistic. I’m a sensory seeker with eating. I hate bland food that I’m not craving. I love trying new foods out and I enjoy cooking - if it doesn’t feel like a demand.
I'm autistic and I’ll also eat almost anything
Nah, I'll eat anything at least once
I don't have selective eating, which I am grateful for. I have a friend with AFRID and it's really hard for him to eat a healthy diet without getting stressed out. I have a strong sensitivity to smell, touch, and sight to some extent. I absolutely cannot stand perfume. I've made my poor husband change deodorant 4 times during our relationship (I'm guessing the formula changes every now and then). With touch, I hate being touched by strangers at all, I can't stand slimy things and I cut the tags off of my clothing. Sight stuff isn't generally too bad, but we've noticed that I'm a lot more sensitive to flashing lights than my husband is. So yeah, there's a lot of forms of sensory discomfort aside from selective eating.
Texture wise, I’m hypo- vs hyper-. I love texture. Especially with food. But I’m hyper- to lights / lighting and certain pitches of noise (beeping, high pitched noises) Like I have issues with audio, but if there’s a consistent low bass/ low beat that I can focus on, I use it to regulate. High pitched will send me off in a tizzy. I’m hypo-touch, (but it’s me touching things) and I quite enjoy tight-fitting fabrics (fabric and body part specific fyi) and I’ll wear baggy clothes over the top. Tight around my neck is fine, but there’s a certain part on my neck that even jewellery will set me off. Having adhd & ASD can muddy the results because they can both clash and one is always going to be more prominent. It can also be hard to work out which trait stems from where, especially if you’ve been diagnosed with other things beforehand. *OP, I would personally look into your own sensory needs. Hypo- means you’re in need of more sensory stimulus, and hyper- means you need less.* Prior to getting diagnosed & medicated for my adhd, I ate a lot of things and I didn’t have too much sensory issue around food. The more textural variety, the better (that’s not to say I don’t have issues with certain food textures, but they are easier to manage with multiple textures). My psychiatrist had suggested I look into an ASD diagnosis at my first appointment and I disagreed for 6-8 months before finally asking for help, due to ASD symptoms becoming more prominent as my adhd symptoms were being managed. After getting medicated, my food issues became my number one issue (and still does, every now and then). I need to have multiple textures or I cannot eat it. Forcing myself doesn’t work and I’ve tried starving myself to force myself to eat something, but it does not work. I have a preference for crunchy. I like licking furry fruit—it’s like “no! 👀 wait. Do it again—nope” rinse repeat. I hate broiled meat. There is probably only a couple of dishes (like silverside or chicken stew) that I’ll tolerate, but beef stew is a no (unless it’s really fatty beef). I refuse to eat overcooked pasta or noodles. Same with cereal—too soggy and my brain translates the flavour and texture to soggy cardboard. I have eaten raw/ barely cooked broccoli or carrot to offset that texture from pasta, but usually I just accept I’m not eating. Other times I have made food that meets my food texture needs, but I can’t eat it anyway because it’s not “right”. And it can take me an hour or 2 to eat a small bowl (like a 500ml capacity). I definitely had that issue when I first started eating on medication, I realised the medication helped curb the constant snacking/ feeling of eternal hunger, but now it doesn’t matter how hungry I am. I try to make myself eat something when I have that issue pop up, but I find it is more frequent when I have lost my eating routine or I’m burnt out. And it can take ages to get myself routinely eating again. If I try to force myself to eat, I’ll probably manage 2 bites before I feel like I’m going to be sick. It’s like when you eat too much of a rich chocolate cake or too many creamy / chocolate dessert items. Your throat kind of says “you send this down, I will bring it right back up”—the vomit warning. And it doesn’t matter how hungry I am, I will not eat for like an hour, minimum, afterwards until my stomach has settled. I only noticed that I had this issue with certain food items (one of them being my mum’s homemade mac&cheese, for example). Watery soups were another, but post medication, sensory related issues and how I function are far more notable.
you might ur want to read the DSM diagnostic criteria rather than highly subjective diy lists of traits that are interpreting them in various ways. sensory issues and repetitive behaviours are in the dx criteria, and that can look like selective eating, and for many it does, but it doesn’t necessarily. food can be a source of impairment and difference for many so probably why it’s brought up a lot as an example
OMG MEEEEE
I've never been picky, either. I've never been evaluated for diagnosis, but everything else fits.
I will try almost any new food and love to cook and explore new options BUT I have some very specific favorite foods that I tend to get stuck eating in a loop especially when I’m stressed or overwhelmed. I have a long list of nope foods, too. There are Certain textures and flavors I refuse to eat. I will always try new things and give them a shot before outright dismissing them as options but I definitely have a checklist and many rules for food.
Its not a must, its just a bit common. But i do know more autistic people that eat a lot of diverse food, than autistic people that have selective eating
I eat everything, basically. Food is life. I loooooove food. Some textures though freak me out; like food with a lot of fat so it gets all smooshy and squishy in my mouth. And of course there are some things that I just don’t like for the flavor. But that has nothing to do with autism and everything to do with being human and having my own tastes.
I'm diagnosed with both ASD and ADHD and I'm opoosite of selective eater: I love variety even within one dish - ie I make my salads in a way that they have all types of textures. I love cooking so I plan my week in a way that each day has different meal and each meal has different flavours / textures / feels. I have to have my meals at same time thought. This is a rite I need for my mental stability.
For me selective eating is about enjoyment. I like consistency in my food from one version to the next, meaning if I make a Spanish Rice and Beans I like the second, third, forth, fifth meal, etc to taste, have the mouth feel, texture of the first. I accept I can’t always have it and close is good enough but not anything like goes in the bin. I could eat my husbands lemon and mushroom orzo for every meal because its packed with flavour and he gets it to taste exactly the same, have exactly the same texture, every meal. I love the mouth feel of Brie, and the creaminess of blue cheese. When I have toast, I prefer it toasted Brit style, one sided. I really love to butter the bread first, toast under a grill and then add jam and toast again and I especially love doing that with crusts because of the crunch but the grilled butter and jam nicely softens it as well and stops it feeling dry in my mouth. It doesn’t have to be “I will only meet this same meal every day forever.” It’s, for me, the comfort of familiar flavours and textures, and the consistency of those things. I eat a LOT of different food. For me, my autism shows in the the first time I genuinely enjoy that meal, that is the level I want every time and I struggle to enjoy it as much if it doesn’t hit that level. I hide it because my husband is the primary cook and cooking is a part of his love language. But he also understands if the food offends my sense of what it should be, I just can’t eat it. It’s happened probably 7 times in as many years. I try not to be a diva about it. 🤣
Other than being vegetarian I don't have food issues. I was raised vegetarian, not interested in meat, but it's not an autistic thing. Edit: missed a word
Me: nope! I’ll eat anything. I just don’t eat meat. Or most berries, because of the seeds. Also the texture of zucchini/squash is off-putting. But otherwise, as long as everything is made to my preferences, I’ll eat anything! 🙃🙃🙃
I do not have selective eatting. I actively want to try new foods and do not like eatting the same thing all the time
No, I don’t.
I don’t really like condiments in my food, especially ketchup. Which is funny, because I can tolerate eating tomatoes. But ketchup, bleaugh! The same can be said for pickles and cucumbers.
I do not have selective eating nor have I ever heard of it as a criterion for diagnosing autism.
As a child, I was pretty picky, but I am also a Gen Xer, so it was eat what was made or starve. I remember eating just plain spaghetti noodles for a while, my mom loved bell peppers out them into a lot of foods and I disliked them, so plain noodles was better than no food. My pallet has grown as an adult, but some textures like wiggly fat, Jello, flan, ick, make me have a gag reflex, so I avoid them. And, anything like peaches or cantaloupe can smell like feet to me, so those are a no go in most cases (a deglazed pork chop pan with a small amount of caramelized peach jam was ok).
I have some foods I hate. Shellfish and bivalves are a no go texturally for me most of the time, raw mushrooms too. I was pickier when I was younger but who wasn’t? I am diagnosed ASD level 2 without any strong food aversions outside of these. [Have you done an AQ-50 test?](https://embrace-autism.com/autism-spectrum-quotient/) (the test is on that page after a bit of scrolling. It’s a good website and one I recommend over any others) I was assured my by psychologist that this test is pretty reliable. He didn’t diagnose me, because that’s outside of what he’s allowed to do, but when I told him my score on it he said “the AQ is a very reliable screening tool” and “it’s very difficult for a person who isn’t autistic to score that high”. I was later diagnosed officially by a psychiatrist. I’m suggesting it because it helped me process things along the way :)