I’ve had autism-related food texture sensory issues my entire life that’s made most vegetables very hard for me to eat. @sabcatsilver encouraged me to slowly try new things one at a time, and to explore what I like. Now, I like a bunch of things and I have prettier food now. https://t.co/xh6ZWfWzif

I don’t like very vegetal flavors (they make me gag) so if I have things like celery and carrots I roast them, or I make a dressing that I don’t hate

Dark green, cooked leafy vegetables and firm things like asparagus were my starting point (the few things I like): I still don’t like most raw vegetables, so most salads are very hard for me, but if I roast the veggies I like it much more.

I also learned that I like simple vinaigrettes and mustard based dressings, and anything that has more fat but less emulsification (abhor most ranch type dressings especially anything white).

I can eat most vegetables cooked Indian / Chinese / Southeast Asian ways, run away from most western vegetable preparations except Italian or French, and I guess as long as I avoid lettuce I am okay. I even eat cabbage now.

For someone who did not eat vegetables at all until I was 30 something, I have surprisingly diverse and healthy gut bacteria (I checked)! Lol.

If you know someone like me, the trick is to not shame them for not liking vegetables or for being picky. Learn to understand that it’s a real thing (I taste vegetal flavors so strongly that I would projectile vomit into my classmates in kindergarten at lunch). Encourage them.

For someone with ARFID I somehow ended up being a food critic (earlier in my career) and.. it actually wasn’t terrible. I have a very clear sense of what I like and dislike, and why; and I’m interested in finding new ways to do the same things. That helped me a lot.

Now, I’m the one trying to convince my wife to try things she doesn’t like. Like eggplant and fennel. Because if I can learn to cook vegetables such that I, a person who once burst into tears when presented with a salad, love them now, I think I can do anything!

I’ll end this thread with an interesting spinach recipe that I love. I knew that I loved Chettinad food, spices, coconut. So I tried this spinach recipe, cooked with the water leftover from washing rice, and I loved it. Still do!

https://www.kannammacooks.com/keerai-mandi/