WBUR Podcasts, Boston.

This is On Point. I'm Deborah Becker in for Magna Chakra Barty. Are you a picky eater?

Or are you dealing with one? Did you grow up in a clean your plate or else household?

On Point listener, Kathy Casca from Fairfield, Iowa did.

So she says she tried to come up with tricks to get around that.

I didn't like vegetables very much, which is probably pretty common for most children.

But I hated peas. They made me gag. And my dad would not let me leave the table until my plate was

clean no matter what we were having. And I used to try to take peas and take them like a pill. I would

take a couple peas and then drink some milk. And he wouldn't even let me do that.

Or maybe you're a parent today, and you're the one coming up with tricks for a picky eater,

like Alexander Graham in Salem, Oregon.

I'm a professional chef, and my five-year-old daughter, she's really funny.

No matter whatever I do to a zucchini, she just will not eat it. Just won't

touch it. But the moment I put that thing on a spiralizer and make zoodles, saute it with a little

butter and garlic, man, that girl can not get enough. Many parents say no matter what they do,

their kids are simply refusing certain types of food.

On-point listener, Sarah and Iowa left us a message about her son, who she says has gone through

different phases.

He was always a picky, a little fussy baby who spit up all the time, and we had to actually

give him an amino acid-based formula.

After he turned one, he started eating foods regularly and he would eat everything from spaghetti

to chicken breast to broccoli.

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