We’ve all heard that pregnant women crave odd edibles, from pickle-and-ice-cream sundaes to nonfoods like dirt or chalk—but less often discussed is the reverse phenomenon, moms-to-be being grossed out by perfectly delicious, nutritious eats. Cookthink brings the issue to light in a recent post about the palatability of vegetables. Writer Chip Brantley explains the onset of his wife’s pregnancy-induced finickiness:
The first casualty was mushrooms. We were driving home from the store, talking about something else, when Elizabeth said: ‘The thought of mushrooms makes me sick.’ After mushrooms went, all vegetables went. Then, some of the vegetables—cucumbers, broccoli—came back. Then they went again. With most vegetables now it changes day-to-day.
By far the biggest blow to our kitchen life has been Elizabeth’s total and complete ban on garlic. The thought of the smell of garlic can turn her good day bad, so it’s forbidden for me, too. I’ve been tempted to sneak it into sauces, but she’s expecting that from me and her senses are on heightened alert.
It must be such an interesting and difficult shift for chowhoundy parents when these kinds of aversions set in. Something akin to dating someone with a restricted diet—though luckily with an end in sight.
I do know women who developed aversions during pregnancy that didn’t go away after birth :-( My friend recently confessed to me that she still has yet to regain a taste for beer, and her son is 5 yrs old.
When I was pregnant with my daughter I could not stand the smell of the inside of Jamba Juice or the taste of any of their smoothies. My daughter is 4 now and when ever I walk inside a Jamba Juice I still get a little queesy.
While pregnant with my 2nd child I had a strong aversion to any kind of cured pork. The worst was that I worked at a deli in the a.m. and was in charge of cooking large amounts of bacon for sandwiches. Thank goodness they took pity on me and gave me saladbar duty.
I had this happen when I was pregnant. I didn’t have any cravings, just aversions. It was as if my sense of smell got scrambled.
Green tea and spinach smelled fishy. Black beans (the #1 staple in our house) smelled rancid. There was a several month period where only strawberries, carrots and chocolate smelled and tasted good. Some other food was tolerable, and most was completely nausea-inducing. Thankfully, all was back to normal by the third trimester.
My sister went off chicken, completely, and still eyes it with revulsion like it’s a fetid food imposter instead of mild-tasting poultry.
And her hair went from poodle-wound to feathery-straight.