There is less than a month left to help Rachael Oehring, 23, of Carrboro, get one step closer to writing a book about her efforts to overcome her picky eating. 

Oehring, who was recently interviewed on an episode of WUNC's "The State of Things" about picky eating, is trying to raise $10,000 via Kickstarter to complete a book project. (You may remember a recent story about Erik Myers' success raising money to start a new brewery in the Triangle.)

Oehring has always wanted to be a food writer but one thing stands in her way: her picky eating. She doesn't like tomatoes, lamb, bell peppers, bananas, custards or jello. Texture is a stumbling block.

"My body won't let me ingest these things with these weird textures," she says.
But this 2009 UNC graduate who hails from Charlotte had an experience at one of Jose Andres' restaurants in Washington, D.C. last year that gave her hope. She previously couldn't eat beets (see aforementioned texture issue) but Andres' beets were life changing. Now she can't get enough of beets.  

It got her thinking: if she tasted the things she disliked the most prepared the best that they can be, maybe she could get past her pickiness. So she wants to travel to France to taste Roquefort cheese and the Pacific Northwest to dine on fresh-caught salmon.
That's the conceit for the book, plus she wants to explore the science behind picky eating: whether it is a medical disorder, mental block or something else.

If you'd like to help Oehring, go to her Kickstarter page. So far, she has raised $1,225 towards her $10,000 goal.

(If you are wondering, the proposed title of Oehring's book, "Gagging toward Bethlehem," is a reference to Joan Didion's "Slouching toward Bethlehem." Didion's writing is what made Oehring want to become a writer.)