'Picky eater' with food allergies is told she's 'childish' and 'needs to get over this'

A relationship drama involving food allergies and a woman's need to be choosy about what she eats has driven plenty of social media input, with over 5,000 reactions and some 2,000 comments to date.

Describing herself as 24 years old and the mother of an 8-year-old, the woman said she became pregnant as a teenager and hasn't "exactly dated" much since her child was born.

"My daughter has a condition called ARFID (avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder)," she wrote. "It means she has a very restricted diet, and it is very much connected to her ASD (autism spectrum disorder). I don't force her to eat certain things that are her 'unsafe foods.'"

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Ever since the girl's diagnosis, the mother said she's become "sure I might have it, too, but I cook for us both and am self-sufficient, so it doesn't bother me day to day enough to think about it."

Then, "about a month ago," the woman wrote, "I went on a date … We went out to dinner, and it was amazing. He was so open to meeting my daughter in the future and being a family man." 

She added, "I only do serious relationships, so yes, this is stuff that was discussed on the first date, LOL."

She said the "second date" with the man occurred just recently. "I went over to his place [to watch] a movie. He then made dinner."

Unfortunately, she said, "it looked amazing, [but] I felt awful telling him I actually couldn't eat it."

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She continued, "Usually, if something is an unsafe food for me (such as melted cheese, vinegar), I'll still choke it down to be polite, and just vomit and cry later. But he had put my one 'hard no' in there. Mayo. I hate it."

Yet "more importantly," she wrote, "I'm actually allergic to eggs. Pretty severely."

She said the man knew this, "as I told him on the first date. He was cool with this on the date." But when "he gave me the food [at his place], I apologized that I couldn't eat it."

The man then referenced how they needed to get her "past this mayo thing."

He said the woman's daughter had to get "past her" issues, too. 

Wrote the woman, "I was pretty mad about that comment, and snapped back that I was not eating his gross food and to not talk about my daughter like that."

She said he "apologized instantly, saying that's not what he meant and that it was a stupidly rude joke. I said I was sorry for calling his food gross — it actually looked really good."

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The couple then ordered some food from McDonald's, she said — "and I went home soon after. He seemed OK."

Later, she said, she texted the man that she'd "had a lot of fun and [was] sorry about the situation."

He replied it was fine yet "brought up" again that she'd called his food "gross" and refused to eat it.

"He was completely ignoring the allergy part of it," she shared, "and saying, 'You really need to get over this … It's childish and it's not the way you raise a kid.' Things like that." 

She added, "I know being picky is annoying, but I don't feel like I did anything wrong."

Many Reddit users seemed to agree with her.

"He's not the one," wrote one person. "Based on his attitude and what he said and how he acted, he's the type to not believe allergies are real. Food will continue to be an issue with him."

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Another Reddit user pleaded with the woman not to see the man again.

"He intentionally made you food you couldn't eat," the person wrote. "He tried to override your parenting of your child. This was the second date. He is being incredibly controlling, he's overstepping and he's being cruel to you already."

Lauren Manaker, a South Carolina-based mother and registered dietitian, agreed.

"It sounds like this gentleman is not educated on certain nutrition-related topics and jumped to some conclusions," she told Fox News Digital. "He could have taken different approaches when she said she couldn't eat certain foods, and he chose to give her a hard time."

Manaker said AFRID "is a very real and serious condition, not something an individual can simply 'get over.' It goes beyond being a picky eater. And frankly, it sounds naive for someone to suggest otherwise."

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Diane Gottsman, founder and owner of the Protocol School of Texas in San Antonio, told Fox News Digital that when visiting someone's home for dinner, "it's not inappropriate to let them know that you suffer from a severe reaction, such as a nut allergy or gluten intolerance."

In this instance, the woman "did the right thing by letting him know."

Said Gottsman, "The issue is that they had a verbal debate back-and-forth, which included name-calling and a verbal insult regarding her daughter."

"It's probably an indicator of what she can expect in the future. People cannot help their medical conditions and dismissing a potential health hazard is inconsiderate."

Gottsman said the man "should have accepted the information graciously and kept his comments about her daughter to himself."

Said Manaker, "If a friend was in a situation like this, I would encourage her to think twice about getting into a relationship with somebody who doesn't take a medical condition seriously."