Last night I headed over to Omnivore Books here in San Francisco (for those of you who haven't heard of it, Omnivore is an amazing cookbook/food book store with all the latest works hot off the press and tons of fascinating and often hilarious vintage selections too) to hear Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic read from her informative and highly amusing creation, Suffering Succotash: A Picky Eater's Quest to Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate. Stephanie is a funny lady and self-dubbed "recovering picky eater." It's a must-read for any picky eater, parent of a picky eater, or co-habitant with a picky eater. You can get a taste of her approach in her open letter to parents of picky eaters on the New York Times Motherlode blog. I got a signed copy to send my nephew, the pickiest eater I have ever encountered. I hope it helps him, in Stephanie's words, "stand picky and stand proud."
Full disclosure: As is common practice in the industry, I received a review copy from the publisher (see our Ethics Policy for details). As is less common, I am thanked in the acknowledgments. Stephanie and I know each other in the food writing world of San Francisco and early on in her research she interviewed me about my hatred of bananas, general dislike of several other fruits, how I overcame my aversion to tomatoes for love (My husband, a passionate tomato eater, enjoyed them so much I finally figured I was missing something. I was. Although I still can't down the spongey/mealy/tasteless red slices that come on burgers and sandwiches in so many restaurants.), and how despite a long list of things I wouldn't eat as a kid and a habit of literally picking food apart to eat it I never was called or thought of myself as a picky eater.
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