Some autistic people experience food and eating differently. These “invisible” differences can include being comfortable with a limited range of foods, or experiencing difficulty eating where there is noise, bright lights or particular smells.
Adam Harris founded the autism charity AsIAm based on his own experiences growing up as an autistic person. There were just a small number of foods he felt comfortable with as a child, he says. “Those foods mostly would have been ‘beige foods’, which I suppose are predictable and consistent,” he says. “I really didn’t like the texture of vegetables growing up. I would eat them in stew, but only if they were mashed or blended together; that was the only way I ate vegetables until I was around 16.
“I would have had very strong views about foods not touching each other, too, and still would be concerned about the textures and smells of food. It certainly would have caused a lot of anxiety and a lot of discomfort.”
An autistic person may have a very particular sensory experience of some foods. “One of my big triggers was the smell of crisps, so anywhere that crisps would come out on a plate, for example, or if I didn’t know if they would or would not, that would cause me an awful lot of anxiety,” Harris says. As a result, there were a lot of restaurants and coffee shops that his family just wouldn’t have gone to. “It’s not just that I don’t ‘like’ the smell of it, it’s that I can’t tolerate the smell of it. And I think that’s an important distinction. Someone might not be able to tolerate [the feel of] how the food is mixing in their mouth, for example.”
RM Block
Some autistic people can experience challenges with some of the motor skills required for eating too. “People may not consider the various steps you actually have to go through to enjoy a meal, from co-ordinating the food on your plate, to how you use the muscles in your mouth to eat food as well.”
All of these differences can mean some autistic people may seek out foods that are predictable in how they look, smell, feel and taste. “If you go to a restaurant and the food is presented in a different way, that can be challenging,” he says of an autistic’s person’s experience.
Judging children for eating the “wrong” foods, or not finishing their plate, can misunderstand the “invisible”, but very real, challenges at play. “I think we can place a lot of pressure on families. This idea of, ‘Mom should just make the child sit and eat their dinner’. That really undermines the child’s real support needs around food, and also places additional stress and worry on the parents when mealtimes can be already complex and challenging.”
Making judgments about the food people feel safe eating isn’t helpful, says Harris. “In doing that, we diminish people’s very real sensory needs. That’s likely to actually make people feel less safe about trying new foods, or expanding the range of foods they are comfortable with.
“As everybody grows older, our food preferences can change and evolve, but that’s only going to happen if you feel respected and safe.”
His food preferences today are probably “more predictable” than other people’s. He has a defined idea of the food he likes to eat and feels safe eating, but he has a “broader palate” now than when he was younger. “That has probably come from being given that independence to have my food preferences growing up.”
Going abroad can still be a challenge when it comes to finding foods that work for him, but he enjoys dining out. “I love going out for food, I really enjoy that experience. I would still tend to prefer quite traditional food, meat and potato, and I still don’t eat a lot of vegetables.”
[ We need a more nuanced conversation about autismOpens in new window ]
Eating at school can be a different experience for some autistic children. Healthy eating policies, therefore, need to be mindful of the needs of the whole school community, says Harris. “Policies adopted with the best of intentions and that may be a good idea for the majority of children can fail to recognise the support needs of others.
“If you have a child with a very limited range of foods that they feel safe eating, and if suddenly the message in school is that these are ‘bad foods’, I think that’s really damaging in terms of the message it sends to the child.”
Where an autistic child is getting the message that the limited foods they can eat are bad, this can have serious repercussions. At worst, they may stop eating those foods. “Sometimes, we don’t see the needs of autistic children reflected enough in school healthy-eating policies, or in the messaging around what is framed as ‘healthy eating’.”
The Government’s hot school meals programme is due to be extended to all primary schools, meaning that 3,200 schools and 550,000 pupils will be eligible. There have been complaints from some quarters about the quality of some of the food offered.
When I was growing up, I really hated school canteens, I really struggled with the environment - the smells, the noise levels
— Adam Harris
Every child is different, says Harris, and the debate around what constitutes a healthy school lunch should be cognisant of these differences. “We can sometimes get into this debate and a very dogmatic approach of what constitutes ‘good’ food and ‘bad’ food. We hear from families who say, well actually chicken goujons are one of the only foods my child feels safe eating. Is it not better that a child eats than goes hungry?
“The idea that a food should not be available universally across the board – the only way to meet the needs of our community is to have that nuance and to have a person-centred approach.”
As a child, he didn’t like packed lunches. “I didn’t like how the textures would go in the lunchbox, I didn’t like the smells of the lunchboxes, I don’t really eat things like cold sandwiches, and I don’t like how they coagulate. I found that very difficult,” says Harris.
It was important that his family worked with him, he says. “My parents would have given me hot food before or after school. They would have advocated for me quite effectively around school lunchtimes as well.”
The eating environment in schools and the social demands of eating with others must also be considered, he says. “When I was growing up, I really hated school canteens, I really struggled with the environment – the smells, the noise levels. I much preferred to go outside during my lunch, or when I was older, go up the town.
“You can understand now, if we are going to have much more of a hot-food culture in schools, we need to make sure children have the space to retreat if they need to. If we want to make sure children can eat in a way that meets their needs, the environment needs to enable that as well.”
It is estimated that about one in 30 people in Ireland is autistic. More restaurants are catering for those who may experience food and dining out differently.
AsIam’s Autism Friendly Towns programme is working with 45 communities where local businesses, including restaurants, are undertaking autism understanding and acceptance training, making sensory adaptations and creating visual guides for autistic customers. Clonakilty, Maynooth, Waterford city, Killarney and Drumcondra village are among those that have been awarded autism-friendly status.
Some cafes, restaurants and bars are offering more autistic-friendly dining – such as a calm and welcoming atmosphere that reduces sensory overload, as well as clear communication and respect for personal space. This can help autistic individuals feel more at ease.
Measures include offering quieter dining times, or quieter spaces for autistic customers and their families. Others offer a visual menu so that diners can see in advance of ordering what a dish will look like. Adaptations such as these can be valued by all customers, autistic or not.
Specialist training is giving hospitality staff an understanding of an autistic customer’s possible sensory needs too.
“Where they sit might be really important for people, or that the food doesn’t touch on the plate,” says Harris. “If people want to come along and enjoy a restaurant experience, but want the food in a particular way, or a little bit simpler, I think showing that hospitality and facilitating that can make a huge difference.
“Good hospitality is good hospitality, so we shouldn’t attach value judgments to elaborate food only.”
Some establishments provide sensory tools to help neurodivergent people manage overstimulating environments. Things such as ear plugs or a fidget toy can offer a way for individuals to regulate their senses and feel more comfortable dining out.
Autistic people and their loved ones are a significant portion of the population and accommodating them isn’t just a “nice” thing to do. “In our experience, if an autistic person doesn’t go out for dinner, maybe their whole family just doesn’t go out,” says Harris. “So this makes good business sense. You are reaching more possible customers.”
World of work
Some simple workplace accommodations can be the difference between an autistic person surviving and thriving, says Harris.
Work canteens and conferences should provide a wide choice of foods, including plain, undressed options, to which extras can be added.
In AsIAm’s office, where half of the staff are autistic, there is the choice to eat at social interaction-free tables. “If you don’t want to chat at lunch, it gives people the autonomy to be in the canteen space, but to have their own dining experience,” says Harris.
Expectations that someone should eat with their team can add pressure. “There can be a convention, or expectation, that the ‘polite’ thing to do is to have lunch with your team. But it can be about recognising that lunchtime is actually your time and you should be able to use it in a way that helps you to enjoy your food, and prepare for the next half of the day.”
Giving employees a choice about when they want to eat is also valuable – having the option to eat at a time when the canteen is quieter might be valued by lots of people.
Some people can struggle to understand how differently an autistic person can experience food, viewing it as “picky eating”, or something that can simply be overcome. That attitude comes from a place of great privilege, says Harris. “Some can have an awareness of autism, but they don’t really have an understanding of it.
“To have an autism diagnosis means you need support in day-to-day life, so while we may all have ‘preferences’ around food, not all of us can’t tolerate certain foods, and that’s a huge difference. Where we can all just respect each person’s needs, wouldn’t that make it better for us all?”
