I'm 19 and have been such a picky eater my whole life. I basically only eat mac and cheese, chicken, peanut butter sandwiches, french fries, and some things with sugar/chocolate. I'm going into my second year of college in the fall and it is very hard going to so many dinners with friends and sitting there since I didn't want to make them have to go to a restaurant at which I would eat something at. Last year, I would go to the dining hall with my friends almost every day, but at least half of the time, I would just sit there and watch them eat because they weren't serving anything I liked that day. My friends would ask me every now and then "why don't you just try it" and in my head I wanted to say because I'm literally gonna have a panic attack, but I always just laughed it off and said "I don't know". The last few times someone has made me try a new food, I have had panic attacks. These instances happened when I was like 12 or 13 and I haven't tried very many foods since then. My family and I have gone on many cruises and when it comes to those sit down dinners with the same waiters each night, I feel embarrassed ordering off the kid's menu and getting the same thing each night. But I would rather eat than sit and watch my family eat. It has just become the standard for me to order off the kid's menu if they don't have anything I want on the adult menu. I will only go to a handful of restaurants and out of those, I still only order off the adult menu half of the time. One of the times that I had a panic attack, my parents were forcing me to try banana pudding and I absolutely hate the smell of bananas. Anytime I smell it, it makes me wanna throw up. It took me 30 minutes to take a bite, after sitting there in tears in public as my parents watched me. I just hope that as time goes on, I can be able to try a food that they serve at most restaurants that I will actually like.