Alexis Atwater 

Peter Camilleri 

English 170  

15 September 2023 

The Girl Who Didn’t Like Pizza 

Being a picky eater was kind of my thing. I didn’t want it to be, but that was my faith according to my tastebuds. They didn’t allow me to eat the things most kids enjoyed like grilled cheese, mac and cheese, burgers, and even pizza. It was my biggest shame and my greatest fault. My diet consisted of chicken tenders, French fries, peanut butter sandwiches, buttered pasta, and plain white rice. It’s easier to list the things I like instead of dislike, so I’m not even going to try.  

Birthday parties were the worst. I would always stress out about what I was going to have to eat because I hated pizza. Now if you have ever been to a kids’ birthday party, you know that there is going to almost definitely be pizza. Fortunately, I loved pizza crust, but this didn’t save me from the embarrassment of all the kids finding out I didn’t like pizza and the teasing that followed. 

It became so known that I was a picky eater that my friends’ parents started making me and my sister buttered pasta for birthday parties. This didn’t make the humiliation any easier. I would sit at the party table with a completely different meal and have all the girls comment and question my food. Not only did I have kids my age teasing me, but also the kid’s parents.  

My picky eating was so bad that my own mother had given up on making my meals. She couldn’t stand having to make three different meals for me, my sister, and my brother. We were all picky and would never eat the things she would make for us. This made it very difficult to try to expand my pallet as I grew older. Since my mom had given up on us at such a young age, we were forced to make our own dinners. I didn’t know the first thing to do when it came to cooking, so I just stuck to what I knew and that was either opening a bag of chips or spreading peanut butter on toast.  

I was always told that it would get better as I aged, but still up until high school, I had the same exact lunch every single day. It consisted of ritz crackers with peanut butter sandwiched between them, chips, and a granola bar. My dinners also looked the same every day, peanut butter on toast, or a bag of chips. The stress about eating out and eating at a friend’s house never got better either. Every time I would eat outside the comfort of my own home, I was rushed with the feeling of humiliation from myself and those around me when I had to order off the kid’s menu.  

I think the worst time in my life, dealing with the burden of picky eating was when I was dating my ex-boyfriend from my sophomore year of high school. His family, especially his mom was very Italian. Every time I would go over there, his mom would be making dinner, and of course, every single time, it was something I didn’t like. This caused me a lot of anxiety because she would always offer and push me to eat her food. I would say I already ate so that I could save myself from the horrible taste and the guilt of making her feel bad. 

The worst time was when we had a planned sit-down dinner with my ex-boyfriend’s grandparents. The main course was burgers. I hated burgers. Of course, I never tried a burger, I was just disgusted by them for some reason. I spent all day stressing out about it and preparing myself to try and scarf the burger down without grimacing.  

The time had come. I was served my burger, and just my luck, it was about three inches thick. I stared it down and put my game face on. I was able to take two bites until I was faced with the urge to gag. I felt bad for not finishing it, and of course, they questioned how much of it I ate, but I just told them I wasn’t that hungry.  

This might not seem like a big triumph, but it was for me. It showed me that trying new foods wasn’t all that bad. Even though I felt like gagging, I was still able to tolerate it, and that was a win in my book. After this, I was able to push myself to try foods that I thought I wouldn’t like. Luckily, I discovered a lot of foods that I enjoyed that I never thought I would like, like pizza.  

This story might seem silly and a bit dramatic, but it was a big achievement for me. I was then able to have a different perspective on trying new foods and could finally ease my worries about eating around other people. It was a huge turning point and a major eye-opening experience. I had gone my whole life fearing and avoiding situations where I would have to eat something I didn’t like, and now I knew that it wasn’t all that scary. I thought that if I could tolerate a 3-inch burger, I could tolerate pretty much anything. This important dinner taught me a good lesson; even though something might seem scary, the best you can do for yourself is to suck it up and try it.