Food is something most of us enjoy—sometimes, a little too much. So it may be hard to believe that some people are afraid of food. But it can become a crippling daily reality for these folks.

Although phobias can be difficult to deal with in general, food phobias are often worse because they create social stress and have the potential to wreak havoc on one’s well-being. Some food phobias can be avoided. But as we’ll see, others are far more serious.

10 Deipnophobia
The Fear Of Dining Or Dinner Conversations

The idea of family holiday get-togethers is enough to make many of us cringe, but for some, the idea is downright terrifying. People who suffer from deipnophobia prefer to eat in silence and usually alone.^[1]

This means that it is a hard pass on family holiday meals and dinner dates with friends. This is often the result of a singular traumatic event such as a failed dinner date or a business interaction over a luncheon that went awry.

Since deipnophobia is a social phobia, it also means that it is the result of genetics. Troubled childhoods and failed social experiences are all contributing factors. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and cognitive therapy offer hope for those with deipnophobia.

9 Oenophobia
The Fear Of Wine

A day of touring wineries and participating in wine tastings may sound like the optimal day for some, but those with oenophobia would disagree. A fear of wine is pretty frustrating because wine is just about everywhere.^[2] This condition makes eating out difficult, and trips to the grocery store become awful as most places have an entire aisle dedicated to wine and spirits.

In some cases, this fear can pertain to the inability to choose the right wine for a gathering. Those suffering from this disease are afraid that if they choose the wrong wine, then those at the party will blame the host.

It may not sound serious, but those suffering from this disease can have the same symptoms as people with anxiety: shortness of breath, tremors, and a severe inability to cope with the situation. Those severely stricken with this phobia may vomit if they accidentally imbibe wine.

Behavioral therapy is the usual choice to cure those afflicted with oenophobia, but cognitive psychotherapy may be used as well.

8 Lachanophobia
The Fear Of Vegetables

This is the phobia most children would happily claim if they could pronounce it. Most people don’t really have lachanophobia but rather a strong dislike or aversion to vegetables. Those with an actual fear of vegetables find that grocery shopping and eating out present a real challenge. Just the sight of produce can induce shortness of breath and nausea.^[3]

For those who suffer from lachanophobia, eating a balanced diet can difficult as starchy foods and sugars often act as replacements for side dishes. While most of us can agree that cake and pasta are far more fun than broccoli and leafy greens, the vitamin deficiencies and other potential dietary issues that can stem from lachanophobia make it a far more threatening condition than it may appear.

7 Mageirocophobia
The Fear Of Cooking

No one likes scraping their latest culinary experiment off their cookware, but for those who suffer from mageirocophobia, this is the nightmare scenario that keeps them out of the kitchen. Ranging from avoidance of the kitchen to a collection of takeout menus stuffed in a drawer to panic attacks and anxiety at the very thought of cooking, this can be a very expensive problem.^[4]

Mageirocophobia is a social phobia that can take many forms. Some are terrified of the idea of giving people food poisoning or conjuring up an inedible entree. Others are concerned about plating issues. The idea of serving up ugly food overwhelms them entirely and makes it impossible to cook. Still others fear the idea of getting cuts or burns while cooking.

Whatever the underlying fear is, it can completely destroy a person’s ability to function in the kitchen. Eating out or ordering in is a lifestyle for those with severe cases. Those with milder cases can eat sandwiches and microwave entrees to fill in the gaps.

6 Arachibutyrophobia
The Fear Of Peanut Butter Sticking To The Roof Of The Mouth

This is an incredibly specific fear and perhaps the easiest phobia on this list to deal with: Simply don’t eat peanut butter. The terror comes from the idea of possible suffocation from eating the sticky sandwich spread. But sufferers don’t have problems with seeing peanut butter or being around it, which is definitely a perk if you live in America where peanut butter is a pantry staple.

This phobia has many degrees of severity, which depend upon the individual.^[5] Symptoms can range from agitation to panic and anxiety. It also may manifest into terrifying physical symptoms that range from a nervous sweat and irregular breathing to shaking, irregular heartbeat, and choking.

Even though people with arachibutyrophobia know that their fear is baseless and irrational, it doesn’t seem to help. The fear creeps in regardless.

Though horrible, this fear is easy enough to avoid. For sufferers with milder versions and a love for peanut butter, switching to crunchy peanut butter with its less sticky texture can make all the difference. Others learn to drink specific liquids while they eat peanut butter to help break down the stickiness. The more severe cases avoid peanut butter at all costs and may even avoid peanuts.

5 Xocolatophobia
The Fear Of Chocolate

This is almost beyond comprehension. Afraid of chocolate? Imagine the foods associated with so many holidays in the US: Valentine’s Day chocolates, Easter bunnies, and Halloween candy, to name a few. This would truly be a rough phobia. You would not only miss out on chocolate and all its awesomeness, but you would live in a world where it is practically unavoidable.

This can easily create tension in social situations,^[6] frustration when shopping with chocolaty candy bars residing at every checkout, and even highly stressful situations at work as there is always that one coworker who keeps candies on her desk.

Extreme cases may find chocolate vulgar. In fact, if they touch anything chocolaty, then they must immediately run to the nearest sink to wash it off.

4 Orthorexia
The Fear Of Eating Food That Is Not Pure

Okay, so orthorexia is not officially an eating disorder. Yet the number of patients exhibiting an obsession with eating healthy is growing. A physician describing his own relationship with food first coined the term “orthorexia” in 1997.^[7]

Too much healthy eating doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but these people take it to the extreme. While too much fat, sugar, and salt isn’t good for you, eliminating these things completely is bad, too.

An obsessive behavior that is still not recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, orthorexia nervosa has many of the same symptoms as anorexia nervosa. While those with anorexia worry about the quantity of food they consume, those with orthorexia obsess over the quality.

Orthorexics are so concerned with the purity of their food that they tend to restrict their diets in unsafe ways. For example, they may eliminate entire food groups such as dairy and grains. These boundaries can continue to tighten as other foods are deemed “impure” over time.

Finding pure food becomes an obsession for those dealing with orthorexia. Only organic food will do, and the food must be prepared in the “proper” way. It is not uncommon for orthorexics to spend hours shopping for the right foods to take home and prepare themselves.

In a cruel twist of fate, this extreme crusade to eat healthy is actually super unhealthy. Malnourishment can result as important food groups are eliminated and the body ultimately begins to ignore or not recognize its own hunger signals.

3 Ichthyophobia
The Fear Of All Things Fish

Though the nature of this phobia may sound fishy, don’t tell an ichthyophobe that! Just the mention of fish is off the table for those with this phobia. The sight or smell of fish—and even the idea of swimming where fish may be—is frightening to them. This means no swimming in the ocean and definitely no sushi bars.^[8]

Often, the fear stems from the idea that eating the mercury and other contaminants in fish could lead to illness. In other cases, the sight of a fish can act as an omen to warn the ichthyophobe of impending doom.

Those suffering from this strange disease can get dry mouth, anxiety, dizziness, and shaking. For ichthyophobes, avoidance is often the easiest route. This means no fishing trips, no fish movies (sorry, Dory!), and no trips to pet stores and aquariums.

Since no direct cause for this phobia is known, there are several prospective ways to treat it. The most common are hypnotherapy, neurolinguistic programming, and exposure therapy.

2 Phagophobia
The Fear Of Swallowing Food, Pills, Or Liquids

Degrees of phagophobia can be so bad that a person can be terrified to swallow his own saliva. Commonly stemming from the fear of choking, this phobia can be life-threatening. With malnutrition and dehydration as inevitable consequences, people with phagophobia tend to skip meals as often as possible. When they absolutely have to eat, they use work-arounds such as overchewing and avoiding certain textures.^[9]

Phagophobia is a notoriously difficult fear to contend with. In many cases, it feels like there is something stuck in the throat. But when people with this phobia go to the doctor, nothing is found. The sensation is persistent, but in all actuality, that is all it is: a sensation. There’s nothing actually there.

It is hard to imagine not being able to sustain yourself due to crippling terror. Then you seek help only to find that most healthcare professionals can’t pinpoint what is wrong. This has to be a truly awful way to live.

1 Cibophobia (Sitophobia)
The Fear Of All Food

Given that we need food to live, the magnitude of cibophobia cannot be overstated. What can you do when you are terrified of the very thing that you need to stay alive?

Avoiding food for any length of time isn’t an option, so where does that leave you? Oh yeah, hungry. Forever. On the bright side, most sufferers are not so afraid that they forgo any food or drink. Instead, they fear foods prepared by people whom they don’t know, are obsessive about expiration dates on food, and are more afraid of beef and chicken.

This can be a lethal phobia and must be addressed as soon as possible. Though psychotherapy has shown promise in patients with cibophobia, this is by far the worst food phobia of them all.^[10]

Melynda Sorrels is a writer, student, reckless blogger, dreamer, and an aficionado of all things funny or caffeinated. You can check out her random musings at https://despitealllogic.com.

The food we consume every day is an essential fuel source for our bodies. Carbohydrates provide energy and protect the body from certain diseases, proteins help stabilize blood sugar and curb hunger, and fruits and vegetables provide a variety of vitamins such as vitamins A, C, and potassium.

Aside from the nutritional benefits, food also seems to bring family and friends together, be it sitting around the dining room table together for dinner, celebrating holidays, or enjoying one of life’s milestone moments with those closest to you.

From breakfast foods to lunch and dinner choices, as well as sweet treats, this list contains 10 bizarre and tragic food-related deaths.

10 Fish Cake

Fifty-one-year-old Darren Hickey, a wedding planner and venue owner in Lancashire, England, was described by his partner, Neil Parkinson, as “larger-than-life.” Unfortunately, working so hard to make his client’s wedding day perfect ultimately cost him his life.

On April 4, 2019, Hickey was asked by one of his chefs to try a freshly cooked fish cake. However, eating the hot fish cake caused severe pain and burning in Hickey’s throat, which led him to seek treatment at a local urgent care center. There, Hickey was given acetaminophen for the pain, and he went home to rest.

Later that evening, Parkinson heard Hickey “making noises” and found him upstairs coughing and choking. Hickey was transported to a local hospital but later pronounced dead.

An autopsy revealed that the hot fish cake led to burns that were so far down in Hickey’s throat they could not have been seen without special equipment. Additionally, the swelling of his airways ultimately made it impossible for Hickey to breathe or swallow, resulting in asphyxiation.^[1]

9 Black Licorice

An unnamed 54-year-old man from Massachusetts had a physically demanding job in construction, walked his dog regularly, and had no medical history of heart problems. While he may have appeared “healthy” from the outside, his poor diet and love of licorice would ultimately cost him his life.

The man regularly consumed red licorice but later substituted his sweet craving for black licorice, consuming as many as two large bags every day for the duration of three weeks. Unfortunately, in January 2019, while he was at a McDonald’s, he began experiencing “full body shakes” before losing consciousness.

First responders were called to the scene, and they performed CPR before transporting the man to a local hospital. Upon arrival, he was placed on a ventilator and admitted to the cardiac ICU. However, he died shortly after that.

Glycyrrhizic acid, the sweetening compound made from licorice root, can cause decreased potassium levels, as well as high blood pressure, swelling, and heart failure. In this case, these side effects contributed to the man’s death. His consumption of such large amounts of black licorice caused a drop in his potassium levels which then led to cardiac arrest.^[2]

8 Eggs

On November 4, 2019, 42-year-old Subhash Yadav and a friend from Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district went to the Bibiganj market area to eat eggs. However, an argument broke out between the friends, and rather than simply sharing a meal together, they decided to settle their disagreement with an egg-eating contest instead.

The first person to eat 50 raw eggs would get $24.50 (2,000 Rupees). Yadav accepted the challenge and had successfully eaten 41 eggs, but as he attempted to eat the 42nd egg, he collapsed and became unconscious.

Yadav was transported to a local hospital but died just a few hours later due to complications from his overeating.^[3]

7 Chili Sauce

Thirty-three-year-old Andrew Lee of Eddington, West Yorkshire, was a forklift truck driver by trade. However, his real passion was cooking, and he hoped to be a chef one day.

On September 19, 2008, Lee and his girlfriend’s brother, Michael, decided to have a friendly competition to see who could not only create but also eat the hottest chili sauce. Everything had been carefully planned, and Lee’s father had even helped grow the red chilis he would use in his sauce.

When Lee returned home from work, he ate lamb chops and potato mash before then proceeding to eat his plateful of hot chilis along with Dolmio pasta sauce. While it might seem that Lee had emerged victorious after consuming an entire plateful of his spicy concoction and won the bet, tragedy soon followed.

When Lee got ready for bed, he began complaining of discomfort and itching all over his body. Lee then asked his girlfriend, Samantha Bailey, to scratch his back until he fell asleep. Unfortunately, Lee suffered a heart attack in his sleep, and when his girlfriend found him the next morning, he was dead.^[4]

6 Toast

After swallowing a sharp piece of toast, 75-year-old Vera Williams of Llys Tudur, Rhyl, sought medical treatment on October 10, 2014, for the pain in her throat. However, the doctor who assessed her felt that she wasn’t “unwell” and simply sent her home.

When the pain in her neck persisted, Williams returned to the hospital on October 23. However, Williams did not elaborate on the pain, nor did she inform the doctor that her pain had been persistent over the course of two weeks. In light of this, it was assumed Williams might have been suffering from an infection and was sent home with antibiotics.

By the next day, Williams began coughing up blood and was transported to the hospital by ambulance. It was then that a scan revealed the sharp piece of toast had torn her esophagus in a “three in a million” freak accident, and the tear had caused blood to enter her intestines.

Doctors decided not to operate due to Williams’s severe heart disease; sadly, she died a few days later.^[5]

5 Corned Beef Sandwich

Forty-three-year-old Mitchell Carey of Gun Road, Knebworth, hadn’t eaten any breakfast on the morning of August 16, 2010. So he decided to purchase a corned beef sandwich from a local cafe for lunch. However, Carey collapsed at work only 25 minutes after eating his lunch.

Carey was taken to the hospital but was discharged the same day and sent home with medication to treat the stomach cramps and diarrhea he was experiencing.

The following day, the stomach cramps persisted, and Carey also began experiencing severe vomiting before collapsing a second time at home. Carey was transported to the hospital but had suffered a heart attack and organ failure. He died two days later.
His death was the tragic result of food poisoning after contracting the rare bacterium Clostridium perfringens Type A from the corned beef. This bacterium is so rare, in fact, that it has only ever been previously recorded seven times in the world.^[6]

4 Chicken Soup

Twenty-five-year-old Issa Ismail of Iraq was a well-trained cook, having worked for eight years in total and having spent the last two years preparing meals in party halls that accommodated 25,000 diners per day.

On June 15, 2021, Ismail was preparing a large vat of chicken soup for a wedding dinner. However, Ismail tragically slipped and fell into the vat of soup.

Ismail was transported to a local hospital for treatment, having suffered third-degree burns on over 70% of his body. Still, unfortunately, he died five days later as a result of his injuries.^[7]

3 Choco Pies

Twenty-three-year-old Alexandra Yudina of Moscow had graduated college and earned her degree as a paramedic doctor. Unfortunately, her accomplishment was overshadowed when she revealed to her friends that she had been diagnosed with leukemia. However, Yudina decided that rather than dwell on her diagnosis, she was going to take advantage of every opportunity to “have fun.”

In February 2020, Yudina and a group of friends spent an evening “dancing, drinking, and joking” at the Killfish Bar. On this particular night, an eating contest was also being held in which contestants were given three choco pies—a chocolate cake with marshmallow filling—to eat.

Yudina hadn’t originally planned to participate in the contest but later changed her mind. Yudina ate the first cake successfully but then attempted to eat two cakes at once, causing her to choke.

Yudina then attempted to head to the restroom but collapsed on the way there. With the cake still in her mouth, she began gasping for air. While friends and staff from the bar attempted to clear the blockage in Yudina’s airway, they were unable to. First responders were also dispatched to the scene, but sadly, they, too, were unable to save Yudina.^[8]

2 Instant Noodles

Twenty-seven-year-old Rekha Nishad of Mumbai, India, was experiencing a rat problem within her home, and she decided the best way to combat the rodent issue was to lace her tomatoes with rat poison.

On July 22, 2022, Nishad decided to make herself some instant noodles to eat. However, as she was watching television while preparing her meal, she accidentally added one of the poison-laced tomatoes to her noodles.

After eating the noodles, Nishad began vomiting and was taken to a local hospital. Unfortunately, she died on July 22, 2022, while undergoing treatment.^[9]

1 Fortune Cookies

Twenty-six-year-old Elmer Oscar Barrera of Houston, Texas, was an employee of the Wonton Food Company, which produces noodles, wonton wrappers, and fortune cookies.

On April 27, 2014, another employee tragically discovered Barrera dead inside a fortune cookie dough-mixing machine.

Barrera’s death was deemed an accident due to the multiple blunt trauma injuries sustained from the mixer.^[10]