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Autism and Food: Food Touching

Writer's picture: Annie KrollAnnie Kroll
Wooden plates with dividers.

One of my biggest struggles with autism is preparing, touching, and eating food. This blog will focus on how I struggle with different foods touching, and ways I prevent this.


My issues with food are extensive. Autism can result in hypersensitivity to senses such as taste, touch, and smell. I do not like food of different texture, taste, or smell interacting. This means I don't like my salad being in contact with my pasta, and I can't let my pasta come in contact with my chocolate cake. If food come into contact, I find it "gross," or "contaminated," and my first instinct is to throw it away. Sometimes I can work through this, but it is easier to separate my food. Here are some ways I separate my food so that I can eat what has been prepared without worrying about mixing foods that do not go together. My methods often can create more dishes, however paper plates and bowls can be used when you want to avoid touching food or washing dishes.


 

1. I sometimes grab multiple forks to eat different parts of my meal to avoid flavor contamination.


2: I try to use a salad bowl separate from a dinner plate to limit food touching. I do not like to use one plate for salad and dinner if I can avoid it.


3: For holidays such as Thanksgiving, where multiple food groups are interacting, I try to use plates with dividers so I can separate food groups.


4: I try to eat dessert or sweet things on a seperate plate to avoid flavor profiles mixing.


5: If I am having a party, I use paper plates to allow myself to categorize the food I will eat into: salad (if I eat salad), dinner, dessert, and snacks.


 

Making sure my food stays separated allows me to know that what I am expecting to eat will be the texture, flavor, and smell that I am prepared for. Hopefully these tips will allow you to keep your food from touching if that is something that bothers you as well.


 If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out at @Anniekrollblog on Instagram or Facebook. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next week! you for reading, and see you next week!

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