Candy everywhere, but I'll take the lox ∣ Ervolino

Every October, people ask what my favorite candy is. And, every October, I reply, “I don’t eat candy.”

That’s not entirely true, though. I’ve never been a big fan of sweets — cookies, cakes or candy — but I have been known to eat my weight in Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers bars, cheesecake and jelly doughnuts when the moon is full and the wolfsbane blooms.

If it’s in front of me, I’ll eat it. But, if it isn’t, I won’t go looking for it. (Every year, after Halloween, I pack up whatever treats are left on my porch and bring them to the office. I can’t stand having them around the house.)

So…am I a picky eater?

And why are picky eaters so picky, anyway?

As a kid, I ate just about everything that was put in front of me — something I always assumed was an ethnic thing.

Like a lot of Italian kids, I was brought up to be adventurous in the presence of comely comestibles and potent potables. My brother was, too. Although, any time we went to a restaurant, the only two things he wanted were hot dogs and ravioli.

He did eat broccoli rabe, though — something I didn’t develop a taste for until I was in my late 20s. (I also strongly disliked lentils, until I was 30-something.)

My brother also loved coffee when he was very young. I didn’t start drinking the stuff until I was well into my 30s.

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By the time I was 12, though, I was well-acquainted with clams, oysters and snails. Not to mention chicken hearts, livers and kidneys. And cow intestines. And, just about every fish, meat, starch, fruit and vegetable known to man.

As a result, I always get a chuckle out of those social media quizzes: How many of these foods have you tried?

Seriously?

The last time I answered that quiz, I checked off everything (about 40 delicacies) except Nutella. And that’s only because no one ever offered me any. (A friend’s mom made me my first peanut butter and jelly sandwich when I was a junior in high school. I haven’t had one since. But if you made me one…)

So, will Bill eat anything? No.

In the ‘90s, two “foods” — both sampled in New York’s Chinatown — convinced me I wasn’t as un-picky as I thought.

The first was a chicken foot, which tasted like the plastic toy truck I got for my fifth birthday. After chewing on it for 20 minutes, I removed it from my mouth and it looked exactly the same as when I put it in.

The other item on my Just Say No list: Fried jellyfish.

It tasted gross. But just looking at this amorphous blob of ick made me nauseous.

I still haven’t recovered.

Most parents expect young children to dislike certain foods — either because the foods have too sophisticated a flavor profile or, more often, because they are foods that the parents don’t like.

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When I was 16, I worked after school at Alexander’s. One night, I came home with an exotic gift from a Jewish co-worker: My first bialy, filled with cream cheese, a few pieces of smoked Nova Scotia salmon, some red onion and capers.

My parents were mortified.

“Are you really going to EAT that?” my shocked father asked. “Cold fish, cream cheese and onions? At 10 p.m.? You’ll be sick all night!”

I dived in anyway, savoring every mouthful while they peered at me, afraid I was going to get violently ill or convert to Judaism seven weeks before Christmas.

I did not convert, but I have been eating bagels and bialys with cream cheese and lox ever since.

LOVE ‘EM!

I also love curried goat, good caviar, canned corned beef hash, red licorice, Greek dolmas, Israeli shakshuka, Brazilian feijoada, dirty water franks, McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and that Chinese soup made with chicken, pork, smoked duck eggs and red goji berries.

Also anything Ethiopian. Anchovies. And lots of cilantro!

I have friends who won’t go near cilantro, anchovies, mushrooms, sushi or any veggie that hasn’t been drowned in cheese sauce.

Is it normal to avoid foods you’ve never tried?

It could be. Or, it could be a symptom of something called ARFID — avoidant restrictive food intake disorder.

ARFID, first recognized and named a decade ago, is a bit like anorexia, according to the National Eating Disorders Association, which notes on its website that “both disorders involve limitations in the amount and/or types of food consumed. But unlike anorexia, ARFID does not involve any distress about body shape or size, or fears of fatness.”

If you think you might have ARFID, there’s lots of info to consume at WebMD.

Of course, if you’re just picky, I’ll gladly give you my candy, if I can have your lox.

I’ll even throw in a chicken’s foot.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: This Halloween, trade your candy for some bagels and lox