told my girlfriend that i have never enjoyed eating unless i'm by myself and she thinks something is wrong with me

this is something i've always struggled talking about because i'm worried it'll make people think i'm weird or there is something wrong with me.<br><br>my girlfriend and i got into a topic of food, and i told her this story about how i'm a very slow eater because i savor my food. and when i have to eat in a group setting, i end up feeling really stressed and anxious because i feel like i'll be the last person eating, and everyone else is waiting for me to finish. so i end up choking down food as quickly as possible in order to finish at the same pace as the rest of the group.<br><br>because of this, i've never enjoyed eating in a group setting. whether that's a birthday party, or christmas dinner, or dinner with regular friends (my girlfriend and i will eat together, it's like the one exception for some reason). i only enjoy eating if i'm by myself.<br><br>today, we were talking and i told her all of this. she looked at me and said "that makes sense why you eat so slow sometimes" and then i said "yeah, because i have to rush through eating when i'm with people" and she said "no, because you savor your food"<br><br>i was shocked and confused by her response because i've always thought that eating slowly was the opposite of savoring food.<br><br>so i tried explaining my perspective to her. that for me, eating slowly means that i can take time to really consider the flavor and texture of each individual bite. that it's not about the speed of eating, but rather the mental state of eating. when i'm eating slow, i *can't* savor food. i have to rush through each individual bite in order to try and finish eating at the same pace as everyone else.<br><br>when she heard that, she said "yeah you definitely have some deep-seated anxiety"<br><br>i think she might have a point. but she also said that it's not normal to prefer eating alone. and i'm starting to think that maybe i do have something wrong with me.<br><br>so i guess what i'm looking for in this post is just reassurance. do other people prefer eating alone? is it considered normal to prefer eating alone? is it considered normal for eating in a group setting to make me anxious?<br><br>EDIT: i should add that i've never had an eating disorder. i'm a completely normal weight, i have no health concerns, and i have no issues with eating with my girlfriend or my dog.<br><br>EDIT2: i think there's a lot of people in this post that are projecting their past exposures to trauma onto me. i imagine that must be frustrating to read about someone else's experiences and having to relive your own bad memories. and i'm truly sorry if that's the case.<br><br>there are a lot of comments like "you had to grow up too fast" with no historical evidence to suggest that is true. like, i grew up pretty normally. i had a pretty normal childhood, i did normal things as a kid. i'm not a robot.<br><br>but i'm also not particularly offended by those comments. i know everyone who is posting them is trying to help me, even if they're projecting their own anxieties onto me. so thank you<br><br>EDIT3: there are a ton of comments about how i hate my girlfriend. that is not true. i mentioned her twice in my entire post. once as like a side note, and once as an example of an exception.<br><br>if you read the post and the edits you'll see that i actually mention her a lot more than that. so i don't think it's fair to say that i hate her. in fact, if you read this post from the beginning then you'll see that she's actually a pretty cool and understanding girl. the way she spoke to me the other day was with a lot of compassion and empathy. and so has almost everyone in this thread like you guys are all really cool