Guest's unfinished food-do you ask?

[Cataboo]

I was always taught that it was polite to eat everything given to me if I was a guest in someone's house, even if I have to choke it down and clamp my hand over my mouth not to vomit.

And so basically I do If I'm allowed to serve myself, I will just take a taste of something I know I don't like - if they ask before serving, I'll just ask for a little bit to taste.

But then I don't really have any strong feelings about food (vegetarian, religious) or allergies.

If I have guests, I usually try to clear the menu with them before hand "I'm thinking of making this, would that be okay?" - and I let people serve themselves so that I don't give someone too much of something they don't like or more than they want to eat. If I'm making a salad and someone says they don't like something, I'll cut up that vegetable and just put it on the side instead of mixing it into the entire salad.