Food smells — a common challenge for fussy eaters

You’re busy frying some onions when your child enters the kitchen, looks at you in horror and begins gagging. They rush from the room in disgust refusing point blank to have dinner or even sit at the table if the onions are there.

One mum told me she went to pick up her 4-year-old from Grandma’s and he was hiding in the garage to escape the smell of the roast cooking in the oven!

This is not unusual among fussy eaters. Sensory sensitivities go hand in hand with picky eating and are also highly correlated with autism and ADHD.

Why are food smells so difficult?

The sense of smell differs from person to person. Be it someone (teen boys?!) who can’t tell there is a mouldy plate of food stuffed under the bed and sneakers that smell like a dead badger to those who can detect perfume weeks after Gran has wandered through the room.

We are all at some point on the smelling spectrum. I have a fairly keen sense of smell so often wander in disgust around my house of males, looking for the offending article, garment, boy!!

Some children are particularly sensitive to smells and so find certain odours overwhelming.

This can be a real challenge when it comes to eating, as although our taste buds can…