GRAVY ON TOP
Cibophobia - Fear of food itself This fear mostly is due to a fear of one specific food or a group of foods. It is also called Sitophobia, derived from sitos, the greek word for bread, and phobia, which means fear
Ovaphobia - Fear of eggs This fear is usually caused by having a negative experience involving eggs, such as having an egg thrown at you or accidentally breaking an egg. It may also be caused by an allergy.
Brumotactillophobia- Fear of Food Touching People with this fear become angry or stressed when their food on their plate is touching other pieces of food. In many cases, if their is food touching, then they will stop eating their meal entirely.
Brumotactillophobia, the fear of food touching, is not picky eating
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WORDS & PHOTO || KIERSTEN RIEDFORD GRAPHIC || EMILY SANDY
ver since I was a toddler I have trembled at the thought of food touching other food as well as the textures of specific foods. I could never understand how at Thanksgiving people can carelessly throw heaping amounts of food onto a plate and then pour gravy all over it. Or the thought of combining weird foods like bananas and Jello like the cafeteria sells. Some might say not liking foods touching is simply a pet peeve, but the fear of food touching, Brumotactillophobia, can go as far as being a mild form of obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD) according to the definition from the National Institutes of Health. According to a number of online sources, many people’s fear of food touching begins as a toddler. These sources also claim there are three main factors of Brumotactillophobia; control, aesthetic appeal and the mixture of tastes and textures. Personally, I find myself struggling with the mixture of tastes and textures when foods touch. My hatred of foods touching one another is so extreme that when something as simple as mashed potatoes mixes with mac ‘n’ cheese I will separate the two foods from each other and eat those, then leave the pieces of food that touched in the middle and refuse to eat them. And the concept of some foods’ textures makes me cringe, especially foods like applesauce. Even as a child, and to this day, I cannot stand the texture of applesauce. I cannot handle the feeling of the sogginess or the small pieces of apple going against my teeth; it is absolutely one of the worst things I have ever tasted solely because of the texture. I share the same amount of disgust for ketchup and pepperoni. Even though some may say it is bizarre to care so much about foods touching since they will end up colliding in your stomach one way or another, in the end, I would prefer to not force my taste buds to A suffer while I eat a meal.
The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the Acumen staff. Reach Kiersten Riedford at kriedford@hilite.org
TRUTH OR DARE | 3.12 | 09
