I ordered a grilled mackeral and found it had bones in it once I started eating it. It honestly ruined my desire to eat it.
Needing to remove bones kinda puts me off wanting to even bother eating said food item. At that point I may as well get something else that doesn’t require additional prep before I can dig in
If I’m gonna pay for the food already then why would I want to have to do more work just to eat it?
Fully agree with you.
best thing i did for autism food related things (as well as empathy) was go vegan
all the processed foods always have the exact same texture and taste. There will never be a bone in my vegan fish. No weird bits in a vegan burger. And my vegan bacon is always spot on perfect.
plus it’s a lot less gross and you don’t have to worry about cross contamination
That sound like more a question about the level of processing the food than a vegan vs. meat based issue.
Granted, fish bones is a special kind of bother but you can have the same sensory experiences with vegan food as well. Expecting seedless grapes, but suddenly the cook used grapes with seeds. Expecting boiled out asparagus, but getting crunchy and some that were probably harvested a little to late. Suddenly getting a little bi of hazelnut shell in your salad.
I agree than going vegan might have some benefits regarding autistic sensory issues, but most of “exact same texture and taste” is more a question of hyperprocessing the food.
I’d love to switch at least some of my meat to the vegan versions but I have a problem with the texture of the ones I’ve tried. Think the ones available here remind me of the overly processed chicken nuggets
Try an Impossible Burger if you can find it. I’ve had good vegan nuggets too, I think the brand was either Impossible or Beyond.
and if you’re in the UK, try Unity Diner and No Catch if you’re around london or brighton. They’re spot on, and Unity even do the whole 3D printed meat for not too much more (i’ve never dared try it cause the idea of meat just grosses me out)
Yeah No Catch is brilliant, I wish they delivered to me, not a big fan of all the crowds around there.
The culinary culture in my place doesn’t demand fish to be deboned. Hence, we eat fish with the head intact and eat the head as well. So, I don’t have a hatred for fish bones; it’s part of the culinary experience.
Edit: grammar
For many, it’s the texture simply existing, regardless of culture. You’re mostly just describing what I’d expect a neurotypical approach to be.
Once I had no choice but to eat whatever I could get my hands on other than chicken and pasta, hunger will override everything. Now I went from extremely picky to not picky at all. I’m ready for the apocalypse. I can eat my neighbors if need be.
There’s a bit of difference between an autistic person who can’t eat something because of the texture and being a picky eater. It may not be a wide chasm, but they are definitely different.
Fish bone could be annoying, but I don’t hate them that much that I will stop eating the fish if I found a single fish bone. That’s just wasting food for me.
What? A fish bone stuck in my throat? I’ll proceed with eating a spoon of rice and swallow it without chewing it first. A common tips that parent pass it to their children in my place.
I’m guessing that if you have autism, it doesn’t affect your issues with textures in food.
I just realized that this post was posted under autism Lemmy account. My previous responses wasn’t about anything related to autism. Just perspective from people with different culture.
It’s easier to eat mackerel flipped over, skin side down. That way the bones are visible from the top and are easier to remove. Your best bet is removing as many bones as you can before you start eating, then be careful.
Some places remove bones from grilled mackerel for youz but not always.
I will have to try that, if I am comfortable enough trying to eat it again. I basically left it half eaten, because I couldn’t bring myself to continue eating it.
Well it’s delicious, healthy, and one of the least environmentally destructive fish to eat, so give it a go.
How is that a value-add response? Like, hey, just ignore your autism for a little bit because someone stranger on the Internet else likes the taste of the fish and thinks you should just try again.Edit: ends up it’s an out of place response and in a different context it’s a lot less problematic.
I meant to reply to OPs response to me saying they were unsure about trying it again. It’s just encouragement and it wasn’t (meant to be) unprompted.
Understood. That makes more sense.
Note their response and compare it to yours. Yes, you’re the problem.
Note that their response changes the meaning of their first response entirely. Yes. Reading comprehension is hard and you clearly have a problem with it.
Note that overreacting and calling people autistic is something you’re OK with.
You realize this is the autism community, right?
Actually it’s more that you don’t know where you are and how to act with decency.
Wow. Good one. Never had someone just respond with pure nonsense before. You only just realized what community this is and are trying to save face, huh?
It takes some skill but there are ways to easily filet the fish. You also always need to eat it with the front teeth in case you missed one. I like to eat food that takes some work, it feels natural.
I prefer all meat off the bone. It’s weird that people like it. Especially fish with bones since you can choke on them.
I’m okay with big bones, so long as it’s slow cooked to the edible bits just fall right off.
Bought a 1kg bag of frozen fish a few months ago. First fillet I ate had a few random missed bones in it and after that I just couldn’t bring myself to eat the rest of the packet.
Mackerel is a very bony fish with very thin bones. Even if you know how to remove bones well in some fish, it’s going to be very challenging for mackerel. My advice is to go for bigger fish with big bones like cod, seabass, salmon, large sea bream, tuna. Watch some videos online on how to prepare the cooked fish to remove bones. You might still get one or two, but with practice and a good eye you’ll be able to avoid bones altogether.
If you want to be ABSOLUTELY sure, you can use your hands to separate the fillets and take the meat apart to feel for any bones that might be left. I do this when feeding fish to my kids to make sure there’s absolutely zero bones. Obviously not possible every time, but if you can do it, it’s very helpful.
Yes, I used to. Don’t eat it any more though.
Me too! I don’t like to eat anything that’s still trying to kill me even after they’re dead. hehe
I’ve lived in Portugal, and they usually serve the whole fish, but some Portuguese people have the skill to remove the spine intact. They also cut chicken in a way that the filet sometimes ends with bones. It can be very frustrating.
I also dislike some fruits because of the seeds. Anything I can’t confidently bite into, I guess.
I just ‘fish’ (pun intended) them from my mouth, kinda fun to do even
eating things that have bones in them being surprised theres bones in your food.
Vegan and even vegetarian food is so much less disgusting. There are no gooey fat clumps, no connective tissue, bones, joints, fucking eyeballs. Its just plants (and milk/eggs - maybe a little disgusting at times)
I am happy you enjoy your meal plan, but don’t yuck my yum
That’s the best part. Fat, brains, tendon, organs, skin… the parts qw instinctively seek out because of their high nutrients content.
fat? hell yeah
brains? gonna reserve that for tanning thanks
tendons? also going to reserve that, for sewing
organs? yeah sure make haggis and it works fine
skin? not on mammals, on mammals that’s better as leather or rawhide
But vegetables and fruits are so inconsistent. You never know what the texture is going to be until you bite into them. Every blueberry or apple has the potential to be mushy, or sour, or unpleasant in any number of other ways. Consistency is solely the domain of grain.
I can’t eat anything with bones 😔 I get what you mean
I grew up in a fishing town and having to eat fish all the time, there is a technique to removing fish bones. I know there’s some guides on YouTube I’ve recommended people before. It’s a skill you can learn, if it’s worth it to you.
If you don’t want to deal with all that, your best option is to order a piece of a large fish, so it’s actually been thoroughly deboned when it was being butchered. Or if you’re cooking it yourself, learn how to debone fish before cooking it.
I’m so picky about fish I don’t eat it much anymore (plus it feels more expensive everywhere in comparison to my hometown) and I hate sitting down to eat it only to realize I need to touch the bones, whether it’s in my mouth or on the fish. When I eat fish with bones in it I start off deboning it well, then wash my hands if needed and sit down to eat it after. If I run into bones I missed I gotta wash my hands again if I touch it. I avoid eating small fish in restaurants bc this process is a hassle to do outside of home. I prefer the flavour of most small fish but it’s easier to stick to big fish like salmon in public imo.
