Are there some foods that you can’t even bear to look at? We explore the strange world of food phobias.
Phobias are a strange thing. From an onlooker’s point of view, they can appear bizarre. Think of a man walking into a room and seeing bacon on a plate. A grim expression comes across his face, and he turns and leaves abruptly. That's a difficult behaviour to understand, but the poor man was suffering from 'carnophobia' (the fear of meat), and couldn’t help himself.
Open a can of the nation’s favourite small, round orange things and 'leguminophobics' will flee. That's because they can’t bear to be near baked beans.
These fears might seem irrational, but that doesn’t make the objects any less terrifying for the person suffering from the phobia.
Six more unusual food phobias
1. Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables. This might not apply to all vegetables at once. The sufferer might avoid all environments where they would encounter them, for instance while shopping or eating out.
2. Alektorophobics probably won’t be found at fried chicken outlets as they’re scared of poultry, finding it far too fowl to deal with (sorry), though they’re not always scared of dead or cooked chickens.
3. Ichthyopohbia is the fear of fish. No tuna, salmon or sole for these guys.
4. I doubt we have a single reader who suffers from mageirocophobia. It’s the fear of performing the cooking process, possibly spurred by worries that the food will be inedible or taste bad.
5. Acerophobia is the fear of sourness. Perhaps easier to avoid than some of the others, as it seems to be the taste (rather than the sight) of sour foods that triggers this.
6. Xocolatophobia is the fear of chocolate. I definitely can't get my head around this one, but I'm sure it's no fun for sufferers.
Cibophobia: the fear of food
Although non-sufferers might read the above with a wry grin, as they imagine someone running off screaming at the sight of a delicious meal, there’s one phobia that can be really problematic: cibophobia, the fear of food itself.
The condition is sometimes confused with anorexia, though the difference is cibophobia is a fear of food itself, and doesn't relate to self-perception and body image. It can be a fear of one food, food that they haven’t tried before or, more worryingly, all food. The latter means the person will have trouble eating, and therefore become underweight and malnourished.
Along with phagophobia (the fear of swallowing), these constitute a very serious pair of phobias that can affect people’s health dramatically.
Do you have any food phobias? Do you know anyone who does? Share your experiences in the Comments below.
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