Arachibutyrophobia:Fear of Peanut Butter Sticking

[Gifted Gourmet]

website to cure this food phobia

Imagine What Your Life Would Be Like Without Arachibutyrophobia and Fear of Peanut Butter Sticking to the Roof of the Mouth Defined as "peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth", each year this surprisingly common phobia causes countless people needless distress.

the problem often significantly impacts the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and keep people apart from loved ones and business associates. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat ...

article from Psychology Today

Steingarten calls food dislikes "the most serious of all personal limitations," and describes how he taught himself to relish everything edible: "No smells or tastes are innately repulsive," he writes, "and what's learned can be forgotten."Steingarten overcame his aversions (to okra, anchovies, and desserts in Indian restaurants) through an effort of sheer will.

What, if any, phobias or aversions do you have ... and to which foods?

[MamaC]

More like an aversion than phobia.

Peach skin... can't touch my teeth on it, gives me goose bumps, and my teeth hurt too.

I've had it all my life.

Edited April 3, 2006 by MamaC (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Peach skin because it has a fuzzy texture? Are you equally averse to eating nectarine skin which is smooth but has a similar flavor?

[MamaC]

I guess is the fuzzy texture... same reaction I have with synthetic thread.

I have no troubles with nectarines; however I noticed the symptom with some not all types of grape skin.

Edited April 3, 2006 by MamaC (log)

[JasmineL]

My friend's mother used to be afraid (truly afraid) of ketchup. I once made the mistake of saying the word "ketchup" in her presence...oopsie daisy. The ketchup phobia was a symptom of her OCD which is under control right now...so ketchup is no longer verboten.

[Kent Wang]

Steingarten overcame his aversions (to okra, anchovies, and desserts in Indian restaurants) through an effort of sheer will.

That's me. I used to dislike olives, mustard, pickles and quite a few other broad categories of food but a few years ago I willed myself to like everything.

[Taubear]

Anything served on a stick. {{{{ Shudder. The feeling of the wood either being pulled out of the food or biting down onto the stick through the food makes my teeth turn to jelly.

[Pontormo]

As much as I like tofu in stir fries, soups, etc., I cannot make myself appreciate cold salads of simpy sauced mashed tofu that a Chinese friend adores.

[NancyH]

Coffee. I was burned with it as a child, and can't stand the smell or taste of it.

[NYC Mike]

Poached salmon. The smell is kryptonite to me.

mike

[Swisskaese]

I have an aversion to:

Canned tuna

canned salmon

hard-boiled eggs

sweet pickles

beets

I can't stand the texture of:

tapioca pudding (like eating creamy eyeballs)

marshmallows

Edited April 3, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Anything served on a stick. {{{{ Shudder. The feeling of the wood either being pulled out of the food or biting down onto the stick through the food makes my teeth turn to jelly. 

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Oh god, me too, popsicles are really hard to eat without touching the stick.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I agree with the wooden stick touching my tongue during eating a popsicle .. it is truly awful .. why, if so many have this aversion don't they use another material for the stick??

[divalasvegas]

Like you GG and Taubear the wooden stick thing, both figuratively and in reality, sets my teeth on edge. One of the most singularly unpleasant eating experiences.

Other "phobias":

- Being in the presence of someone "misusing" ketchup such as pouring it on eggs or grits. I can bear someone adding ketchup to steak, but only barely.

- Being in the presence of excessive food swirling where the offender proceeds to whip his/her plate into one huge mass of food.

- Having certain foods touch each other. For example, for the typical Thankgiving meal lineup it must be turkey, then mashed potatoes, followed by stuffing, cranberry relish, a little space then whatever green vegetable is being served. AT NO TIME MUST THE CRANBERRY RELISH TOUCH THE POTATOES NOR CAN THEY EVER BE EATEN TOGETHER! Whew.

[Lilija]

I'm mushroom-phobic. I *despise* them. I don't like the way they look, smell, and godforbid I ever accidentally bite into one.

Last time it happened, over 15 years ago, at a fancy Thai resturaunt, my dad said I screamed so loud, people in the next building probably heard me. I don't remember, I blocked it out, pretty much.

People who say "Oh, there's mushrooms in this, but you can't even taste them" drive me crazy. No, I taste them. I smelled them when you brought the dish to the table. I SENSE them. Yes, I could pick them out of my food, but then there's the psychological trauma of eating things that were cooked with and/or touching mushrooms for an extended time. I'd rather not. I feel like I can still taste their taint.

Evil, hateful fungus.

[srhcb]

Is there a word for "fear of rolling out pie crust"?

SB

[cherrypi]

The smell of warm milk makes me nauseous. And if I had to actually drink the stuff, it would get ugly.

[Jenny McClure]

I am the same as Mamac. Peach skin. I cannot bite into a peach. I love peaches but they have to have all skin removed. I have the same difficulty with edamame. I cannot put the pod in my mouth and then pop out the beans. I have to deshell them manually. I'm getting goosebumps all over just thinking about it.

[Patrick S]

Is there a word for "fear of rolling out pie crust"?

SB 

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How 'bout 'briseephobia'?

The wooden-stick phobia is really interesting. I wonder what sort of physiology is behind that and similar nails-on-the-chalkboard type aversions. I had a friend in school who had a similar, really strong aversion to metal forks touching his teeth. If he even heard someone else's fork touch their teeth, it made him almost sick. Naturally once this became widely known, all of his friends (except me of course) considered it their duty to rub their forks against their teeth in his presence at every opportunity. . .

[Kerry Beal]

Is there a word for "fear of rolling out pie crust"?

SB 

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How 'bout 'briseephobia'?

The wooden-stick phobia is really interesting. I wonder what sort of physiology is behind that and similar nails-on-the-chalkboard type aversions. I had a friend in school who had a similar, really strong aversion to metal forks touching his teeth. If he even heard someone else's fork touch their teeth, it made him almost sick. Naturally once this became widely known, all of his friends (except me of course) considered it their duty to rub their forks against their teeth in his presence at every opportunity. . .

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Something to do with the vagus nerve I suspect.

Your fork story reminds me that along with my issues around wooden popsicle sticks, I also have an aversion to silver utensils, they make my teeth buzz. My friends are kind enough to let me have stainless.

[Shaya]

Tomato seeds. If they are in the dish, my teeth WILL find them, and I will become immediately turned off from eating. I've always had this phobia - I trace it back to when I was 4 and my Aunt made me try a spoonful of taboule and I really didn't want to try it...I guess it traumatized me! Tomato skins follow a close second.

Since I cook so much Italian, my husband found the best little gadget (a tomato presse) for me that shoots the seeds and skins down one side and all the good stuff down the other. It literally changed my life.

[Alchemist]

Yeah, raw tomato guts are of a revolting texture. The seeds are allright, but the slimey stuff that they are suspended in...Vomitious. Gado Gado. This comes because of a brush with death,( oh how I begged to die as a lay twitching on a cold tile floor in Ubud, the screams from the monkey forest infultrating my miserable fever dreams) from a bad plate of veggies.

I have also been aon a a Stiengartian quest to purge all food dislikes. In the last year I have forced myself to like olives, meat cooked more than med. rare and fish eyeballs.

In the next year I will tackle Kim Chee, canned cranberry sauce and olive loaf. Oh, and tomato guts.

[Shaya]

Yeah, raw tomato guts are of a revolting texture.  The seeds are allright, but the slimey stuff that they are suspended in...Vomitious.  Gado Gado.  This comes because of a brush with death,( oh how I begged to die as a lay twitching on a cold tile floor in Ubud, the screams from the monkey forest infultrating my miserable fever dreams) from a bad plate of veggies.

I have also been aon a a Stiengartian quest to purge all food dislikes.  In the last year I have forced myself to like olives, meat cooked more than med. rare and fish eyeballs. 

In the next year I will tackle Kim Chee, canned cranberry sauce and olive loaf.  Oh, and tomato guts.

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Alchemist, you hit it on the head, it's that slimey stuff that coats the seeds that kills me. I can tolerate eggplant seeds pretty well - but they are "clean".

I'm curious - do you think it was the veggies or something in the peanut sauce that "got" you in Ubud?

[mizducky]

Hmmm ... wondering if, for those folks with the food-on-a-stick issue, whether the material of the stick makes any difference. For instance, I vaguely recall seeing some kid's frozen novelties on plastic handles rather than wooden sticks--would a plastic "stick" help matters for any of you, or not?

It's not at the level of an aversion, but I do find accidentally clinking my teeth with metal utensils to be rather more unpleasant than I would have imagined is "normal" (whatever the hell "normal" may be--as I've been known to joke, "normalcy" is possibly an over-rated concept ).

I do have a very few food aversions--not profound ones, as I am capable of eating the foods involved, and even sort of enjoying them, but I don't think they're ever destined to become favorites of mine.

One is canned tomato soup. The color, smell, and mouth-feel all strike me the *wrong* way. I think my mom jinxed me here--she hated the stuff, and regaled me as a kid with a story of how, when she was a kid, she poured the tomato soup that came with her school lunch into the pocket of her coat to avoid being forced to eat it, much to the horror of *her* mom. My version of the aversion (rhyme a happy accident) once extended to tomato juice, although that eased some when I got old enough to experience Bloody Marys for the first time. Mind you, I love tomatoes in every other way imaginable--including raw, seeds and jelly gunk and all. And I love tomato-based soups like cioppino. It's just the Campbell's style creamy tomato soup that puts me off.

Oh, and here's one that's been bemusing me recently--I just don't dig the texture of fresh raw pears. I love the flavor just fine--it's the grainy texture of the flesh that kinda puts me off. I adore dried pears, cooked pears---hell, even canned pears. Raw, no dice. I just bought some the other day, because I find this averson of mine so silly. But no dice--still don't really groove on the things. Sigh.

[freshherbs]

palatachafaphobia:

fear of cutting the roof of my mouth when eating sandwiches made with a crusty roll or a too-large spoonful of Capn Crunch

i often eat sandwiches upside-down (the sandwich, not me)