Has anyone managed to overcome sensory food issues?

Health is not an issue for me but socializing is. I'm dead tired of the looks, the questions, the clear face expression people make whenever i say I'm not eating x food. Worst part is that sometimes i actually enjoy the taste of new foods but their texture makes my brain immediately scream "spit that thing out now", so I fear becoming the center of attentions at the table because I'm having a gag reflex and then finding a place to properly spit the food (or outright vomiting in an extreme case).

But I'm done, my situation is not going to change with words, or snarky comebacks and whatnot. I need to eat new stuff so people finally shut the hell up about me whenever there's food involved. So I'm looking for whatever strategies you have used, or heard about someone else using to overcome this issue with textures.