No touching!

No touching!

– Ben had a total meltdown because potato had touched his nuggets. He was now refusing to eat any of the nuggets, even the ones that had not been ‘contaminated’ by the potato.

– Lottie would eat the sausage and would eat the bread but wouldn’t eat the sausage in the bread.

Does this sound familiar?

Wanting foods to remain separate is super common.

Many children are uncomfortable with foods that touch well into the primary years. In fact, it’s not just children who are fussy eaters who find this challenging, many who are eating competent still prefer them to be separate.

And yes, there are a surprising number of adults who still want their foods to be separated. The official label is brumotactillophobia — try saying that five times without making a mistake 😉

Why no touching?

As always, the more you understand about where a child is coming from, the better. With understanding comes empathy and patience.

Any time a child is less comfortable around eating, small things can become a real challenge. There are many logical reasons why separate foods are more easily accepted.

1.Contamination. This is a common complaint among children who find new foods a challenge. They do not want a food that is not a favourite, touching one that is.

When one food touches another, and particularly a non-accepted food, this can bring up all sorts of fears about how it may affect the food that is comfortably eaten. Will it make it taste or feel different, for example.

2.Off-putting. It can be really off-putting to have a food that is not in the comfort zone on the plate, next to a favoured food. A good way to understand this as an adult is to think about how uncomfortable you would probably be if there was a hair curled next to your potatoes.

This is absolutely not to say that you should not have non-favoured foods on the plate. In fact, you absolutely should be working towards this.