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'.
