History Main / PickyEater

See also DoesNotLikeSpam, KidsHateVegetables, StockYuck (things almost ''any'' kid can be expected to hate to eat), and overlaps with IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou, a common reaction/joke about this. Compare CityPeopleEatSushi, which has the pickiness showing class, and PickyPeopleEater, a far more horrifying related trope, the execution of which is also less about immaturity and more about delicacies or nutritional requirements. If they try to miss an entire meal due to their pickiness, it often leads to a MissedMealAesop. For a biologically-enforced version, see FantasticDietRequirement.

** Fudge himself proves a very picky eater in book 1, to the point where, for a while, he refuses ''anything'' he's served, even if he'd specifically asked for it.

* Joyce in ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'' has ''very strong'' feelings about what she's prepared to eat. She won't eat food that's touching, her hamburgers have nothing but ketchup (she freaked out when she learned the white things on [=McDonalds=] burgers were onions), bacon is only for breakfast, and she orders sausage pizza, but with the sausage picked off and put in a bowl.

* In ''LightNovel/IsekaiIzakayaNobu'', Hildegarde wanted food that was not stinky, spicy, sour, bitter, hard and that wasn't bread, potatoes, rice porridge, eggs or stew but was tasty. Her uncle believes it's a combination of him spoiling her while she was young and her impeding ArrangedMarriage that is causing her to act like this. Several high-quality restaurants were unable to accommodate her until Nobu managed to succeed by serving her ''ankake youfu'' (simmered tofu with sauce).

* People on the autistic spectrum are extremely prone to being sensitive to different flavors, textures, and smells of foods and consequently are often extremely picky about what foods they will or will not eat. Perhaps unsurprisingly, ARFID can also be comorbid with autism.

* Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a type of eating disorder in which the sufferer has an extremely selective palate and avoids the overwhelming majority of foods to the point of causing health problems. This avoidance may be based on appearance, smell, taste, texture, brand, presentation, or a past negative experience with the food in question. Many of those who suffer from the disorder stay away from anything spicy, tangy, or acidic, and tend to favor generally blander foods laden with carbohydrates. The common criteria for when simple "picky eating" crosses the line into ARFID is when the restrictive diet extends past childhood, or when the sufferer would not eat outside of their "safe" foods if there was nothing else available or they were starving.

* People on the autistic spectrum are extremely prone to being sensitive to different flavors, textures, and smells of foods and consequently are often extremely picky about what foods they will or will not eat.

* Downplayed with Rurune the donkey in ''LightNovel/TheFruitOfEvolution''; she's a [[BigEater massive glutton]] and happily consumes just about anything, even [[AscendedToCarnivorism meat]], but only if it's what she calls "human food". Having something of an ego, after Seiichi inadvertently spoiled her by letting her eat food meant for people, she decided that grazing on grass and roughage like an animal is beneath her. Fortunately, eating a Fruit of Evolution in [[TooDesperateToBePicky a moment of dire need]] resulted in her [[HumanityEnsues transforming into a human woman]], so she has every excuse to only eat "human food".

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', Kyon's little sis doesn't like green bell peppers.

''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': In the episode "A Tale of Two Tables" when Lincoln gets in the grown-up table, he gets served with liver instead of chicken nuggets which Rita says that is from younger kids, much to Lincoln's disgust.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Bookworm}}'', we have Lex. Being a bookworm, he eats paper but will only eat scraps of paper with a single word on them. [[JustifiedTrope Of course if he didn't adhere to this, the game would be ridiculously easy.]]

* ''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten'' has a small bit of dialogue where [[ChildMage Emizel]] brings up a dislike of fish, which puts him at odds with the sardine-praising [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Valvatorez]].
* In ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance'', a visit to Toto Bunny's garden brings up the fact that Zeroken hates carrots and Usalia doesn't like them. This leads to a scene where [[FunnyBackgroundEvent Zeroken is force-fed a carrot by Red Magnus later on]]. [[spoiler:This takes a particularly dark turn as Usalia reveals that while eating curry, which she hated when she was cursed, stalls the curse's effects, eating carrots ''accelerates them''.]]

* Locke from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' hates mushrooms. [[AllThereInTheManual Not that we ever find out in the game.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'': The first episode of ''Brotherhood'' shows Noctis disdainfully plucking all the vegetables from his hamburger, putting them on Ignis's plate. Apparently, poor Ignis has been trying to get him to eat his veggies for years.

* The Avatar of Jarlsberg challenge path in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' is such a germaphobe that he won't eat or drink ''anything'' he didn't make himself. No, this doesn't mean you can get away with not buying outside food or booze -- he won't touch anything not made with his special Cosmic Foods in his Cosmic Kitchen.
** The main feature of the Cosmic Kitchen is a portal to deep space: Jarlsberg doesn't just prepare his food personally, he only uses ingredients whose base atoms ''have never been part of any organic compound''.
* ''VideoGame/LogicalJourneyOfTheZoombinis'' has the Pizza Trolls Arno, Willomaen, and Shyler, who will only let you pass if you make each of them a pizza (and an ice-cream sundae, on higher difficulty levels) that they like. The trick is, each troll has toppings that only they like and which the other ones will refuse, so you have to figure out who likes what in as few moves as possible. Otherwise, the trolls get testy and start [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom knocking your Zoombinis back to the start]]. On higher difficulties, you have more ingredients to choose from, and more trolls to satisfy.
* ''VideoGame/MoshiMonsters'' has a weasel-like character named Shrewman who only likes blue berries mixed with yellow berries. Give him one or the other and he's not interested, and give him red berries, even if they're mixed with a different colour berry, and he'll reject the whole lot.
* ''VideoGame/NekoAtsume'' has Tubbs, the BigEater who eats entire food bowls at once. The catch is, they only eat food that the player had to pay for; they won't eat the free Thrifty Bitz.
* Gami Gami Devil in the ''VideoGame/PoPoLoCrois'' game kidnaps Jilva and tries to make her eat vegetables that she doesn't like because they're healthy. And these vegetables are Green Peppers and Carrots.
* In ''VideoGame/RuneFactoryFrontier'' when you ship fruits Rosetta likes she'll applaud you when she comes to pick them up, but if it's Danny's turn to collect shipments and you've got just about any vegetable in your bin he'll whine, expressing a desire to not even ''touch'' them.
* Used as a plot device in ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland''. Otis, the prisoner on Melée Island, really hates carrot cake. He was sent one by his aunt as a gift. He trades it to the player character, Guybrush, who later finds that there is a file inside it. This file was intended to be used to help Otis escape from prison, but Guybrush instead uses it in a bizarre, off-camera scene in the Governor's Mansion.
** Guybrush really hates mushrooms. When he's in the hellish labyrinth below the Giant Monkey Head on Monkey Island, there are some wild mushrooms, and when you 'look at' them he remarks "I always knew in hell there would be mushrooms".
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims4'':
** Sims with the Foodie trait get uncomfortable moodlets from food or drink that is of normal or lower quality.
** If ''Parenthood'' is installed, Picky Eater is a potential childhood phase. During this phase, Sims will prefer their favorite quick meal as opposed to any other food.
** And as of ''Get Famous'', your famous Sims will have a chance of gaining the Refined Palate fame quirk when eating excellent quality meals. Similarly to Sims with the Foodie trait, these Sims will also become uncomfortable when eating food of normal or lesser quality.

* Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a type of eating disorder in which the sufferer has an extremely selective palate and avoid the overwhelming majority of foods. This avoidance may be based on appearance, smell, taste, texture, brand, presentation, or a past negative experience with the food in question. Many of those who suffer from the disorder stay away from anything spicy, tangy, or acidic, and tend to favor generally blander foods laden with carbohydrates.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars, Falken hates eating eggs and poultry because he is a [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies Harpy]].
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' and all the other kids in town refused to eat broccoli. Thus only the kids of Townsville were unbrainwashed unlike their parents when the evil alien Broccoloids invaded, though they were helpless against them... 'till the girls realized they could ''[[ImAHumanitarian eat the]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman Broccoloids]]''. In the end, all the kids started eating their greens [[SpaceWhaleAesop to ensure that they weren't aliens]].

* ''Series/BizarreFoodsWithAndrewZimmern'': Andrew Zimmern would try anything on the menu and always give a second chance even if he didn't like it, but he won't even touch spam or walnuts. And damn, is he infamous by how much he hates "his enemy"... the durian.

* ''Series/ExtraordinaryAttorneyWoo'': Young-woo, who is neurodivergent, doesn't like unfamiliar foods so she will only eat gimbap, as the rolls let her see exactly what's inside. When she realizes that her father is using a different brand of ham in his gimbap restaurant, she carefully picks out each piece and arranges them in an "X" on her plate to express her displeasure.
* There's a British {{reality TV}} series called "Freaky Eaters" which focuses on real people who have ''extremely'' limited diets. One person could only eat cheese and crisps ("chips" to Americans), another person could only eat meat, a third person could only eat tinned ("canned") spaghetti hoops and toast, etc. A chef -- as in someone one would expect to have a wider palate -- could only eat sweets, chocolate bars, and biscuits ("cookies"). The whole point of the program[me] is to get the person to widen their diets, or at least attempt to do so, by [[ScareEmStraight showing the damage their eating habits are doing to their bodies]]. Harry Hill has, in the past, had a fantastic time poking fun at these people and the program itself on ''Series/HarryHillsTVBurp''. It later got an American remake on Creator/TheLearningChannel.

* ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'': The Beaver hates Brussel Sprouts. The first episode of the fourth season focuses on his hatred of the green vegetables.

* Sherman of ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' takes this UpToEleven:

* [[ShelteredAristocrat Luke fon Fabre]] of ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' is very much this not liking all kinds of sketchy meat, carrots, mushrooms, milk, rappig meat, and all kinds of fish. [[spoiler:This in retrospect makes sense; aside from his noble and spoiled upbringing, Luke is actually seven. Trying to get a kid of that age to eat things they get into their head to dislike is a chore and a half.]]
** All party members except Anise have something they dislike to eat and will avoid: Tear doesn't like carrots, Jade doesn't like pork and rappig meat, Guy doesn't like lemon and tofu, Natalia doesn't like octopus, and Asch doesn't like carrots and octopus.
* Colette from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' dislikes green bell peppers. When she eats food containing them in a skit, the others think she's developing "an adult sense of taste". [[spoiler:She's actually losing her sense of taste entirely.]]
** Don't forget Kratos and [[TheHero Lloyd's]] mutual hatred of tomatoes.

* Poo in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' dislikes western foods which barely recover his health. He only prefers eastern foods, and water happens to recover more of his PP.

If this is PlayedForLaughs, it's not uncommon in older media for a fussy child's parent to protest that there are starving people in a less-privileged part of the world. This is less common today, when food scarcity is less a problem, and offending other cultures is more a problem.

* Music/MichaelJackson was one according to those who knew him. He was a junk food lover as a child, especially of KFC fried chicken. Oddly, he didn't care for chocolate. His mother recounted that when the family would go out for hot fudge sundaes, Michael was the only one who wouldn't get one. In his early adulthood, Michael decided to stop eating meat and become a vegetarian in order to develop a slimmer build that would help him dance better. Despite being a vegetarian, he hated vegetables and rarely ate them. He also didn't like pasta either. Michael was eventually forced to add meat back into his diet in order to keep his stamina up during tours, but he eventually got to the point where he barely ate at all, especially during the child molestation allegations.