Hey everyone I'm Dan, and I would definitely consider myself a "picky" eater. Although I too hate the word picky. I'm 20 and all my life have been very selective about the foods I eat. Appearance and smell are the biggest factors for me, but I've always had people belittle be for not trying food because of this. The thing i can never explain to people is just how bad of an experience eating something I hate is, no one understands.
My diet mostly consists of Pepperoni pizza, some fruits (apples, oranges, raspberries, bananas) Simple cooked meats (Steak/Beef, pork/Ribs Chicken) And bread. No sauces, gravy, or dressings. I might get sick from looking at ranch, if I smell it I'm done for. Even like ketchup I've had it before and liked it but I can't bring myself to eat it again. The only exceptions is BBQ and Italian.
I am fortunate in the sense that I like just enough variety that I get most the nutrients I need, but have always been under wight. Everything I eat is pretty bland. Sauces are my biggest downfall. My safe food is pizza. only can eat pepperoni on it. When I was a kid though I would only eat cheese even though I already knew I liked pepperoni pizza better. Sometimes even if I know I like something it just freaks me out too much to eat it. As I've gotten better over the years I would still say I have a child's type diet. As a kid, everyone I knew, knew I was like this and while they liked to make some rude comments they would typically help me find something I liked , except for one person that forced me to eat food I desperately hated, I was either crying or just refused which usually came with a beating. As an Adult now I'm not really embarrassed, I can easily tell someone to off if they have a problem with the foods I like.