Is being picky with certain foods sinful?

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akathlic

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Im not exactly picky, i’ll eat various foods if i have to, but i do get squeamish with certain foods.

I live in a very cultured household where we eat a lot of traditional foods that im not really accustomed to since i was raised in the states.

I usually decline to just eat certain foods like cow tounges and intestines, because it seems kind of…gross.

Is this sinful of me? Why or why not.
 
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Im not sure, but i have heard that simply
Not eating certain foods because you think its gross is gluttony
 
It was from Fr. Mike Smitchz in his video “What is the sin of gluttony”

 
There are foods I will never eat and some foods I cannot eat. I am picky with what I eat and I do not believe it is sinful at all.

Gluttony is overeating solely because you want to. Like eating a whole pizza when two slices satisfied your hunger.
 
akathlic said:
It was from Fr. Mike Smitchz in his video “What is the sin of gluttony”

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That isn’t what Fr Schmitz said at all!!!

You’ve completely misunderstood him. He isn’t referring to finding some foods unpalatable.
 
1ke said:
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akathlic:
Im not sure, but i have heard that simply
Not eating certain foods because you think its gross is gluttony
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I don’t know where you “heard” this, but it isn’t true.
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It is one’s prerogative to eat liked food, and not to eat disliked food. It’s not a moral issue.

I cannot eat mayonnaise. I find it gross, and I have fought battles royal to keep it off my hamburger when I order it. I lived in DC for 9 years and it must be some kind of cultural thing up there. Similarly, I cannot eat green beans unless they are fixed one certain way (Italian style with onions and, preferably, bacon in some fashion), they are just too “chlorophylly” or something. Never tried asparagus, but I don’t think I’d like that either. Brussels sprouts take a positive act of the will to eat. Different people like different things.
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This is one of those areas where there isn’t a Clear cut answer.

For instance, pickiness as an affectation (“I’m too superior/my palate is too delicate/I simply can’t endure that peasant food”).

Pickiness as a way to control others and make them feel bad. IE you read the latest health food craze in a magazine and now you refuse to eat a common, harmless food that’s really no big deal and you haven’t informed your dinner hostess that you have a new self imposed (not doctor recommended) “dietary restriction”. (“Thanks for dinner, but there was nothing here I could eat”).

Or whining because it was “seasoned wrong”.

Basically, if you’re using it as a tool to make other people feel bad, or to control them.
 
I don’t like olives. I’ve never liked olives. But I like olive oil
When I was little I didn’t like tomatoes or mushrooms
I still don’t really like tomatoes, but I’ll eat them
I’ve gotten to the point where I actually kind of like mushrooms
I have a nephew that is now five that told me he didn’t like something because he “never had it”. If he never had it, how did he know it doesn’t like it?
Whether or not it’s sinful, is besides the point. But it does get annoying having to tell kids that they can’t just eat candy and ice cream all the time
 
Outside of some scenario where you’re seriously inconveniencing people by having super specific demands about your food, no. It’s fine to not like certain things.

I can’t stand sweet potatoes. 🤮 Its never occurred to me that this might be sinful. I just don’t eat them. Not a big deal.
 
I would think, like in many things, it depends on your motivation. Are you avoiding certain foods because you simply don’t like them, or allergies and the like? No, not in any way sinful. Or you avoiding them in the same way Jesus warned against praying loudly purely so others can see your ‘piety’? The answer often lies with what dwells in your heart.
 
adamhovey1988 said:
I don’t like olives. I’ve never liked olives. But I like olive oil
When I was little I didn’t like tomatoes or mushrooms
I still don’t really like tomatoes, but I’ll eat them
I’ve gotten to the point where I actually kind of like mushrooms
I have a nephew that is now five that told me he didn’t like something because he “never had it”. If he never had it, how did he know it doesn’t like it?
Whether or not it’s sinful, is besides the point. But it does get annoying having to tell kids that they can’t just eat candy and ice cream all the time
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Sounds like umami isn’t your thing. Tomatoes and mushrooms are loaded with it. You could probably say somewhat the same thing about olives and olive oil. I am an umami junkie — I make a garden omelet in the microwave almost every morning (eggs in a Pam-sprayed plastic pasta cooker) and I put so much stuff in it, it bursts with flavor. And I will eat chopped onions with everything.

I have lately developed a taste for all kinds of peppers. I grew some in my outdoor garden, including the green ones that get called “mangoes” (or, in Southern Appalachian speech, “mingoes” — vowels do some weird things in the mountains) throughout large parts of the upper South and Midwest. Never did like them before, now I’m hooked. Don’t know why. They say your tastes change every seven years.

So much grim stuff we have to discuss in these forums, how refreshing it is to be able to shoot the breeze about foods we like.
 
Dan_Defender said:
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akathlic:
cow tongues and intestines, because it seems kind of…gross.
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Mmm… I tried trippa alla Romana in Italy and loved it. To each his own.
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I had flaki wolowine (beef tripe soup) in Poland and it wasn’t bad. It seems like the whole world, outside of Anglo-America, has this atavistic urge to eat offal. (Yes, I know, lest I seem insensitive, it is cheap and most of the world is poor.)

And I was once tricked into eating black pudding of a sort — “it’s a special kind of sausage made with kasha (buckwheat)”, I was told — I didn’t figure that out for a long time. (What goes into black pudding, you say? Google it. I’m not going there.)
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
I had flaki wolowine (beef tripe soup) in Poland and it wasn’t bad.
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I married into a Polish family and they (thankfully) didn’t require me to eat or taste anything I didn’t want. I’ve not had the courage to try flaki, but before my wife and I were married, did try Zimne Nogi (cold jellied pigs feet). That was a one off…never tried them again but earned the respect of the entire family by “bravely” giving it a try.
 
akathlic said:
Im not exactly picky, i’ll eat various foods if i have to, but i do get squeamish with certain foods.

I live in a very cultured household where we eat a lot of traditional foods that im not really accustomed to since i was raised in the states.

I usually decline to just eat certain foods like cow tounges and intestines, because it seems kind of…gross.

Is this sinful of me? Why or why not.
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The sin of gluttony can be broken down into 1) excess and 2) luxury. Excess is when we are intemperate in how much we consume or partake in something. Luxury is when we are particular about things having to be a certain way, and this can lead people to be disrespectful towards the poor (who have fewer choices) or cause distress in the people around them, sometimes severe distress if it develops into a vice.

If there is a food you simply strongly dislike, I don’t think that could be considered luxury. People have different taste buds. If a meal isn’t prepared in a way quite to my preference and I start to nag or grumble about it, then yeah, that is venially sinful in my opinion. Parents usually have to go through this many times with kids at the dinner table.
 
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