On being picky

Gross.

My grandma - the passive-aggressive one - once called me a "fussbudget" for not eating a casserole made with Cream of Chicken soup, even though I was a vegetarian and had been for several years. In fact, I was using the "vegetarian" thing as a handy excuse to not eat the casserole, which looked pretty gross.

I have always been a picky eater. I didn't realize that I was for most of my life, because the Kid is about a dozen times pickier than I am. For a period of about two years, she only ever ordered chicken fingers when we went to restaurants. After I started dating Andy, I realized just how picky I really am.

Andy will eat anything. I mean it. The only food he absolutely refuses to eat is beets. I actually like beets, but I've promised Andy that I won't sneak them into his food or anything, because he deserves to have one thing he won't eat, when I have, like, a million.

Here is a very partial list of foods I dislike:
- Bell peppers (they make me ill. My mom and sister can't eat them, either. It's called a non-allergic food hypersensitivity. But mostly, I just hate how they smell enough that it turns my stomach, and I get really nauseated if I eat something that contains even a little bit.)
- Sausage
- Most processed food, including:
  - All Hostess snack cakes that I've tried (which is kind of a lot)
  - All Little Debbie snack cakes except Swiss Rolls, which I love
  - Rice-a-Roni
  - Doritos (all flavors)
  - All Sun Chips except Harvest Cheddar
  - Almost all donuts (I like cream-filled, not custard, and chocolate glazed; that's it.)
  - Most snack-type food, including, without limitation, most prepackaged cookies and cheese-type things
  - Canned pie filling
- Olives
- Any rice-pilaf-type thing
- Any food with artificial fruit flavoring, including Popsicles, Kool-Aid, fruit roll-ups, and lollipops (lone exception: strawberry pop-tarts. Don't know why.)
- Gravy (disgusting slimy meat goo. And no, I won't like your grandmother's recipe. All gravy is gross.)
- Artificial sweeteners including aspartame and saccharine (they taste metallic to me)
- Most soda

The one thing I really, really like, despite its totally artificial and gross-if-you-think-about-it nature is regular Coke. I know it's bad for me, and bad for my teeth, and that high-fructose corn syrup is satan's work, but I can't stop drinking this shit. 

Are you a picky eater? Have you ever tried to quit drinking soda? I'm thinking about cutting it out, and I could use some tips!