Man, I dunno, I'm autistic, and I feel like this is one of those "quirky, relatable things that I'm going to baselessly ascribe to autism" posts.
Hence the "not autism" in the title.
Huh, you know what, I totally skipped over the title mentally, but implying that makes it better is, uh...
Like 80% of the memes in this community...
People these days will post anything and call it an autism meme. The other day I saw a meme about having a meltdown in public because the lights in a restaurant are too bright with a #autism tag, and no, that's something everyone goes through. Every neurotypical does that and has to be calmed down by their partner reminding them to think about models of diesel locomotive. I know because I have autism, which makes me an expert on what's normal to experience
Buddy, it's picking the food you eat last so the flavor lingers, just dressed up in le quirky Tumblr speak. There's no evidence this is an experience unique to, significantly more prevalent in, or meaningfully changed by autism.
Calm down.
Edit: Like there's literally an extremely common English expression "saving the best for last" that's near-universally understood to apply to things like food, media, performances, etc. I can't even believe I need to explain this.
This read has been an emotional rollercoaster
I reckon this all goes to intensity of the experience. There's a chasm between having a playful quirk and being painfully unable to decide what to eat first, every time unless it's a meal familiar to you on a molecular level.
I get where you’re coming from, but I also think some general traits that people can have are more common in people with autism.
Not everything is either definitively autistic or definitively just a trait.
I frequently find myself evaluating what parts of myself I can ascribe to autism versus just a facet of my personality. On the off chance that you have a manual that helps with this delineation, please send it my way!
I once had a meltdown when I was suuuuper young after my dad threw away my bowl of salad, which at that point was just the cucumbers I was saving as they were my favorite part. He yelled at me for crying and thought I left them because I didn't like them, my mom comforted me and yelled back at him explaining why I ate that way. One of the many moments that I'm sure compounded until their eventual divorce. Yay traumatic memories! So going to buy some cucumbers when I go to the store next 🤤
I had an ex who would eat faster than me, then go for things on my plate, where I'd carefully saved the best for last.
Until I told him if he tried that again, my fork's going into his hand next.
I fucking hate people eating my food, or even asking to eat my food. Like fuck you I got this planning to eat it. I'll tell you if I don't want something.
I have some cucumbers in the fridge right now, guess who's making salad later
Cucumbers were always my favorite part too. I was embarrassingly old before I realized you can just chop up a bowl of cucumbers and call it a salad
Yesss! Cucumber salads are amazing, and I will so be making once I have more!! I hope you enjoy/enjoyed your salad!
The white people call that "dessert"
When i was younger, i optimized it and chose the order based on how much i can tolerate said food. The hardest to eat parts first, as at the beginning of a meal I'm hungriest and that can more easily overide some unsuitability and the easiest to eat parts last when the hunger is no longer pushing to eat.
Nowadays, if it wouldn't be that annoying to wash the blender, I'd just blend everything and drink it. Daily eating is annoying enough already.
Wow. Very much the same. I always ate in order of texture, from worst to best. Now my favorite meals are things I generously call "burrito bowls", when they're just a bunch of stuff that tastes good together, mixed together.
The Jetsons promised me single pills that were full meals. Where are my meal pills?
Yeah, still waiting those meal pills or at least all in one superfood.
I know there's Huel, but it does seem to get some pushback and I can't figure out is it legitimate or not. Like whatever it's just based on emotional relationships to food and most people unable to eat the same thing more than few times in row or is it actually legitimately missing some crucial nutrients and would cause issues in the long term.
I "eat" huel meal replacement shakes for like 20-50% of my meals depending on how busy I am at any given time. They're functional as food, and the caffeine ones are super convenient as they replace breakfast and hot coffee. It is by far and away the most boring food you will ever "eat" though, and moving to a liquid calorie diet can cause some digestive discomfort. Especially if you dont get enough fiber, which is statistically likely as the vast majority of people dont get enough fiber.
That's good to know. I've never really eaten food for the emotional factor and have absolutely no issues eating the same thing in row for years, already been doing it for my breakfast for my whole life.
Fiber tip is good, probably have to supplement it then.
Thank you for the information.
Who are you and get out of my mind now. I don't like when others type what I'm thinking.
But before you do, don't forget to talk about those unbearable flavors/textures that can't absolutely be in the plate because if you find them in your mouth by mistake, they feel like a personal attack against your tastebuds.
Also, it's not always flavour AND texture. There are forbidden textures with pleasant taste (onions) and pleasant textures with forbidden taste (broccoli).
Primarily it was fatty parts or ligaments of meat. Basically everything besides lean meat. It did create somewhat of retching reaction. It did reduce over the years and as i can choose what type of meat i eat myself nowadays, it's not as big of an issue.
Biggest issue is generally efficiency. Any food that requires way too much effort to eat isn't really worth it. Like chicken wings, that stuff is primarily bones and ligaments, minimal edible tissue. Completely pointless food. Chicken breast, much better, it's primarily lean meat.
Not only limited to meats. Like oranges, the peeling of those makes those worthless to eat.
So relatable. I eventually went vegan, but as a kid this was me. The only kind of meat I'd tolerate was chicken. When my parents make some kind of steak, I'd cut all the fatty parts off the meat and end up only eating a few tiny bits. Then they would get upset because I didn't eat enough of it.
I never could tolerate the chewy fat. Which makes it all the weirder when meat-eaters eat beef and go, "You don't know what you're missing." Yeah I do, I'm missing a texture I can't stand, and that's a win in my book.
Curious, how do you feel about mushrooms? I find the texture similarly revolting, but with a rubbery texture added in. Then the smell when they are cooking... it's like somebody's cooking up dirt.
I have thought about veganism, but then i go to the store and see the price and meager choice with vegan replacements and give up.
It seems to be easier to just take the cheaper and more abundant base ingredients to cover the bodies base needs.
Luckily unflavored chicken breast and lean cuts of pork(heavily depends on the quality) are amongst the cheapest meats and can be bought in bulk during a sale. Adding in some carb source(potatoes, rice, buckwheat, pasta, quick oats), some greens(paprika, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic), some dairy products and the basic nutritional needs seem to be covered well enough and cheaply.
As for mushrooms, honestly i can't recall when i ate those last time. I remember from childhood that I really didn't like those, yeah those were kinda odd to eat. But as an adult i seem to have been subconsciously avoiding those.
Having a last bite is an autism thimg now.
As a kid, I used to leave the best (the meat) for last, so I first ate all potatoes on the plate.
Then my mom thought I didn't like the meat, so she gave more to my brother and less to me, and I was too timid to complain.
As a parent I really don't get this. Me and my daughter do the same and I ask her if she's leaving the best for last.
Really strange not to see this.
I’m not super bothered about what I eat last (although I definitely do that), but when I was a kid I had severe The Food Must Not Touch or it is Ruined issues. Thank Christ school lunch trays segregated all the food or I’d have starved. I didn’t have it as bad as my friend though, he’d literally puke if forced to eat one of his food aversions.
I still don’t like it, but I can get over it unless it’s a truly vile combo or texture.
I used divided plates at home up to my teenage years, because I was the same way. I can tolerate more foods touching now, but there are some things I just don't get. Like when one of the things on the plate is liquidy, like apple sauce, and it eventually ends up touching everything around it - rice, meat, veggies, all end up tinged with apple sauce. I still don't understand how people tolerate that.
I can never forget the terrible line, "bUt iT aLL miXeS iN yOUr sTomAcH." Bruh, I don't taste with my stomach, what kind of argument is that? It's like people completely miss the point of making foods with different flavors.
I'm in my 40's and I still cant have my food to touch, so be thankful for that. I still have some food aversions though no where near as bad as it was as a kid.
The trick I used to rely on was eating up as close as possible to the edge of wherever it had touched without actually eating any of the Ruined food. I would have little pathways of leftover foods touching each other that I ate around, minimizing food waste while also not eating anything that touched.
Fuck a sandwich that gets wet from touching something, though. I still can’t do that.
I know it's most likely a confirmation bias (I think that's what it's called), but the more I stumble upon posts from this com in all, the more I feel that I might just be undiagnosed.
Edit: just read the title more carefully
Water. Drink water between every flavour so they don't mix and become overwhelming. Drink water after the meal so the taste doesn't stay and become sensorially unbearable.
Drink water between every flavour
Nope. Can't do that. If I start drinking water, I will only finish once I am full or the glass is empty.
Hell, oftentimes while eating, even just the mere thought of water makes me loose appetite, and I only force myself to finish, keeping water as a reward.
I do it too. And my mother used to tell all my girlfriends, to try and convince them I was too weird for them.
What a bitch
Thats an autism thing? 🤯🤯
No.
Saving the best for last is pretty common.
Oh I've got a variant! When I eat a dish with meat and a side, I have to eat the meat first. If I inadvertently finish the side before the meat, I am overwhelmed by a terrible sense of failure.
slytherin
🤮🤮🤮
So I'm not autistic because I eat my favorite part first?
I do this. I also do other weird things like eat all around the "nest" of gravy in mashed potatoes and only eat the center when everything else on my plate is gone so there isn't any "contamination" of gravy on other things.
That is, unless I'm eating turkey. Then, mixing it with Mashed Potatoes is a must.
Does anyone else feel like the first one of something they enjoy is the best, and then near-literally can’t taste the rest of things after that?
Happens with me and pretty much everything. First bite of pizza is the best, every single bite after that? Might as well be air.
Ya'll ever had that where you are saving that last bite of meat and it turns out to be a fucking hunk of ginger?
do you guys also eat first things with “non-matching” flavours? like, they interrupt because their flavour doesn’t mix and it’s so strong it’s the only thing you taste
If the foods are separate I eat them one at a time.
However I prefer to eat food where everything is mixed together
Homogeneous mass
I spend minutes agonizing over this only to end the meal with water and it makes all of my planning for nothing.
A community for respectful discussion and memes related to autism acceptance. All neurotypes are welcome.
Community:
Values
Rules
Encouraged
.
Helpful Resources
