A gran hates sprouts so much she has launched a tirade against the 'social expectations' to eat the 'little balls of evil' - that made her so 'upset' as a child she'd dread Christmas Day. Kerstin Shepherd said that her phobia of brussels sprouts began as a child when she would find them hidden in her Christmas dinner, prompting her to bin the entire plate and 'shudder from head to foot'.
The 54-year-old claims that such a fuss was made surrounding her not eating the tiny green cabbages that it turned her mild dislike into an outright phobia, which can now leave her feeling 'anxious'. The gran-of-four decided to try to conquer her fears around 15 years ago so, in a bid to overcome the 'madness', spending months placing a tiny piece of the veggie on her plate until she could eventually eat it.
However, just when the mum-of-one thought she'd turned a corner, she was unexpectedly served a massive pile of the edible buds, which put a spanner in the works and reverted her back to square one - and worse. Kerstin said that her bizarre phobia is assumed to be a joke or simply a dislike and that people shouldn't be forced to gobble them down 'just because it's Christmas'.
Now the network marketer has branded the vegetables as 'literally her worst Christmas nightmare' in a Facebook rant about how people try to make her enjoy them even after being told abotu her phobia. Kerstin, of Alnwick, Northumberland, said: "I don't really know how the phobia developed into such madness.
"This big debate people have every Christmas over sprouts and I could never understand why such a fuss was being made because I'd eat peas and broccoli. Why was such a fuss having to be made over this one little evil ball? I never ever understood it.
"I cannot tolerate them and I certainly couldn't cook them for somebody else. I've done everything I can to try and overcome this phobia and there's nothing else I can do. My feeling on the subject is now why do I have to conform? Why should I?"
The dog lover's phobia goes right back to childhood. Kerstin said she had a relatively strict upbringing but wasn't forced to eat food and if she didn't like something, was expected to respectfully push it to the side of her plate without any fuss.
Kerstin said: "But sprouts were always something that a real fuss was made over. We used to have a large Christmas dinner, often with maybe 20 people, and my food would appear and I'd find a brussels sprout hidden in it.
"I'd lift up my yorkshire pudding or mashed potato to find them squashed underneath and half inside my mash so that I'd eat it by accident - it just made me shudder from head to foot. I don't know why I dislike them, maybe it's the texture. It's certainly not the colour because I've always eaten other greens.
"I think it was because I felt like I was being forced. It wasn't like somebody was holding my nose, shoving them in my mouth and making me eat them, I wasn't forced that way - it was just the fuss and people saying 'you've got to have one, why are you making such a fuss?'. It used to make me dread sitting down on Christmas day and I'd find myself getting upset and I think this was made worse because I was told I was 'being ridiculous' for being so upset."
The gran said that after discovering one on her plate as a child she'd feel anxious and become hot, slightly sweaty and shaky. She claims that as an adult she would still be told 'you've got to have a sprout, it's Christmas' and although she'd politely decline, she'd still find one craftily stashed on her dinner plate.
Kerstin: "And it [to find hidden sprout] really does render everything else on that plate completely inedible. It's a question of getting up, putting the whole lot in the bin and getting a fresh plate. But about 15 years ago, I thought 'right, it's about time I grew up, it's about time I took myself in hand' and I spent over a year placing a tiny little piece of sprout on the side of my plate and then moving it towards my food.
"And then eventually putting it on my fork and then after about another month or two I think I eventually got that tiny little piece up to my mouth, and it took months. And eventually I got to a point where I could put one on my fork, put it into my mouth and swallow it.
"I didn't like it or enjoy it but it did mean that if I went to somebody's house and they had inadvertently not known, then I could cope. Then somebody served me some food unexpectedly with a load of sprouts on my plate and I just completely and utterly went back to square one, and worse - it just completely threw me.
"It was a big pile of them and it was just too much, it was so overwhelming." The foodie said that she's attempted to eat the healthy veggie as a child and adult and has probably struggled down around 10 to 15 in her life.
Kerstin said: "It sounds mad and it's not something I talk about a great deal but I really thought it was me and that maybe everybody is right? And it's me that's being silly. But then after I spent all those months doing that and then ended up at square one again I thought no, it's not me. If I don't like something, why should I have to adhere to social expectations?
"It's got absolutely nothing to do with the taste. When I got to the point where I was able to eat one, the taste wasn't rancid or anything like that. I just don't want them and I certainly don't want them on my plate and I resent the fact that you are made to feel stupid because you really don't like something, and this is what's made it worse and worse.
"It's similar to somebody who doesn't like spiders - you wouldn't put a spider on the table or near somebody that doesn't like them would you? My husband detests bananas, I wouldn't dream of making a pudding and hiding a piece underneath it, 'just because it's Christmas'.
"Yet somehow, this is allowed with sprouts. That silliness - I find it insulting and patronising, and that has made it worse as well over the years." Kersin said she could buy a bag of sprouts but draws a line at preparing fresh ones and eating them.
She can also handle seeing them in a bowl on a table. Kerstin said: "When I tell people about my phobia they just think it's a joke and that I just don't like them, lots of people don't like them but lots of people don't get anxious.
"People like or dislike Marmite but if somebody doesn't like Marmite you don't get a lot comments on your post saying 'I love Marmite', 'you should try it cooked with bacon', 'you should try it cooked like this' or 'you obviously haven't had it like that'.
"Nobody tries to persuade you and make out that you're the problem because you don't like it, sprouts are the only thing that I can think of that are like that. I can get a little bit annoyed with some people who just think 'you're just being silly'.
"And sometimes I've felt like that more that I've dug my heels in and tried to explain, the more ridiculous they think I am, which makes me more annoyed. I don't particularly like Marmite but it doesn't cause me a problem and people don't try to hide it under my mashed potato on Christmas day.
"I don't understand why you have to have something that you don't like, it's wrong."
