For those of you who don’t know, ARFID is shorthand for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, which is most easily explained as being like a food phobia. I’ve lived with extreme sensory aversions and anxiety surrounding food for years, and I’ve been slowly working on getting over it. Oddly, I really love to cook, I just can only cook so many things within my comfort zone, and I’m getting bored. I really want the satisfaction of cooking something great more often!

My main meals I cook are pretty simple. I cook a lot of chicken and I love cooking steak because of how satisfying it is for something so simple. I like making pasta too, but one aversion I still can’t get over is tomato, so options are a bit limited (I mostly do a simple sort of chicken alfredo pasta). Some of my major aversions are things like stew; too many things going on at once, and liquid food grosses me out. I’m at a standstill with recipes because everything that’s a step up from the basics feels too complicated and thus too anxiety inducing for me. I want to make things that take a little more work and are more impressive, but I’m not sure where the middle ground lies. Any suggestions for food that’s adventurous from the perspective of a clinically picky eater is greatly appreciated :,)