Picky eaters
Food neophobia, or an unwillingness to try new foods, affects males and females of all ages. Robert A. Frank, of the University of Cincinnati, who has studied food neophobia for over a decade, suggests that the difference between those who try new foods and those who don't is one of attitude, not sensory sensitivity (J. Fox, Psychology Today, 1999). Sensory sensitivity might be expected to create sex differences in food neophobia, as some evidence suggests (e.g. Brand and Millot, 2001) that women have more sensitive olfaction than men. Hobden and Pliner (1995) found no effect for gender on food neophobia or neophilia (the seeking out of novel foods). Nordin et al (2004) also found no sex differences between adult men and women on food neophobia, but did that food rejection and aversion was more common in women than in men. Nordin et al also concluded that women are more sensitive to disgust than men.
I was very surprised by the equality on this area, because the only picky eaters I can recall are male, whether adults or children. Of course, this is probably mostly observer bias, since the eating habits I've examined closest belong to my romantic partners, who have more often been male. I've had to create lists for almost every boyfriend I've ever had of the "Things He Will Not Eat." My own food neophobia has waxed and waned, but in general has decreased with age (as it does with most people). I nearly had a full-on tantrum the first time I was brought into an Ethiopian restaurant at the supposedly "adult" age of 24 (in fairness, I was also fresh off a plane and cranky already).
I was very surprised by the equality on this area, because the only picky eaters I can recall are male, whether adults or children. Of course, this is probably mostly observer bias, since the eating habits I've examined closest belong to my romantic partners, who have more often been male. I've had to create lists for almost every boyfriend I've ever had of the "Things He Will Not Eat." My own food neophobia has waxed and waned, but in general has decreased with age (as it does with most people). I nearly had a full-on tantrum the first time I was brought into an Ethiopian restaurant at the supposedly "adult" age of 24 (in fairness, I was also fresh off a plane and cranky already).