Guest's unfinished food-do you ask?

[badger]

ha, my pickiness was related to meat. I've always had issues with meat, like fat or gristle, or anything that you bite in to and feel gross. I'd cut off all the fat, which my mother complained was half the meat, but it always grossed me out, and still does. Another thing that irked my mother endlessly was when I was always suspicious that my meat was undercooked. To this day she hates it when I inspect my food before I put it in my mouth.

I'm mostly vegetarian now (flexitarian?), I never buy meat at home. It's just simpler to avoid it and I never really liked the taste of meat anyways (except bacon and sausages...)

[rubywagon]

Nobody ever invites us over for dinner because we are vegetarians. Whats up with that? :P

[Crankin]

I was the pickiest eater imaginable, until I was well into my teens. When I was five, I had to be put on a diet to gain weight and get some, ah fiber into my body. I distinctly remember my mom sort of shoving a banana down my throat, along with some really gross, thick chocolaty stuff, that I think was for constipation... I had been living on white bread and butter/milk for months. My stomach always hurt and I was seriously underweight. Then I went through a phase where I just gagged on everything, when I was about eight. The smell of tuna fish made me nauseous and I don't think I ate a vegetable or crunchy fruit until I was 16.
Now I eat everything. I think when I was in college, I started eating more fruits and vegetables and ethnic stuff. My dad was in the wholesale food business at that time, and I often got to go to restaurant openings. Also, my mom always was an outstanding cook. There were never any mixes or prepared foods in my house. I learned to cook just from watching her.
I have never had bad "guest" experiences. I did a have a couple of friends who ate virtually nothing, because that was the only way they could maintain their weight. This was a long time ago; I do remember one sort of annoying me when she pushed the food around on her plate at a holiday dinner.
I had one kid who was just like me. He was in the 5th % for weight growing up. In some of the pictures from when he was around 3, he looks like a concentration camp survivor. Guess what? When got to high school, he had a lot of friends who were vegetarian. They exposed him to lots of stuff/restaurants and now he eats just about any ethnic cuisine. Still doesn't like crunchy veggies or fruit, though.

[HoosierGiant]

Nobody ever invites us over for dinner because we are vegetarians. Whats up with that? :P

Ditto.

[ny biker]

I was once invited to dinner by a friend who served pot roast. I cannot stand the taste pot roast. I'm also mostly-vegetarian in that I just don't like the flavor and/or texture of most meats. I do like most vegetables, and I love potatoes.

So I filled my plate with potatoes and vegetables and ate them all, even though they were infused with pot roast flavor. I never made a face or said anything about not liking the food.

My friend got really mad at me for not eating the pot roast.

We're not friends anymore.


A few months ago, one of my neighbors invited several people over for dinner and announced she was making paella. Most of the things in paella make me gag, so I lied and said I already had plans for that night.

I fully admit that I am a picky eater and yet some of the things I love are pretty strange combinations that I will never admit to in public. But I do my best to keep it to myself when I'm someone's guest.

BTW I get left out of dinner parties mostly because I'm single.

[Zen]

BTW I get left out of dinner parties mostly because I'm single.

They don't want you stealing their men

[Skierchickie]

ha, my pickiness was related to meat. I've always had issues with meat, like fat or gristle, or anything that you bite in to and feel gross. I'd cut off all the fat, which my mother complained was half the meat, but it always grossed me out, and still does.

Me too! All my life. My DH loves steaks - we have steaks, and I have half a plate of fat and junk left, and his is practically clean (shudder shudder) I'm the one that gets a mouthful of gristle, or a fragment of bone, or hidden vein of fat, or some other horrible thing in every hamburger, pasty or piece of sausage (sausage - yuck - I don't eat much of that.).

There are stories about my great-grandmother hovering around during dinner, and then picking the fat scraps off people's plates and eating them - "Can't let that go to waste!". Eew.

[ny biker]

Me too! All my life. My DH loves steaks - we have steaks, and I have half a plate of fat and junk left, and his is practically clean (shudder shudder) I'm the one that gets a mouthful of gristle, or a fragment of bone, or hidden vein of fat, or some other horrible thing in every hamburger, pasty or piece of sausage (sausage - yuck - I don't eat much of that.).

There are stories about my great-grandmother hovering around during dinner, and then picking the fat scraps off people's plates and eating them - "Can't let that go to waste!". Eew.

Yuck. Just reading this makes me ill.

(I have the same issues as you and badger.)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Nobody ever invites us over for dinner because we are vegetarians. Whats up with that? :P

Half of our friends seem to be vegetarians, so at potlucks there are always many veggie/vegan dishes. (And usually way too much tofu for my taste. )

Maybe you should cultivate more vegetarian friends?

[Blueberry]

Nobody ever invites us over for dinner because we are vegetarians. Whats up with that? :P

Throw themed vegetarian potlucks? We have lots of veggie friends - but it's not that often that we visit someone's house or have someone visit ours. Just our lives/schedules...

[Tuckervill]

My friend got really mad at me for not eating the pot roast.

That is just sooo wrong. Asking why someone didn't eat what was served is wrong, too. Rude and nosy. Don't do it.

I can't tolerate onions anymore (they give me gas, raw or cooked), but I LOVE the flavor of onions in my food. So, I pick them out while savoring the flavor they may have left behind. If someone asked me why, I'd tell them they'd be happier being around me if I didn't eat them (same with bell peppers, but I LOVE them). If the person got mad, I'd have to tell them to shut the heck up. I mean, really! How rude!

Karen

[shootingstar]

Greenbeanw, are you sure it's because you're vegetarian for the non-invites? Of course, these maybe people who love their barbecued meats, etc.

Here in Vancouver at home, we barely have enough space to include 2 other people for dinner. OUr home space is small. So potluck here: no. But when I lived in Toronto and with several family members in rotation, there would be/still a potluck meal every few months. It's the only way to feed a very large family with young kids running around and without overstressing the hosts on food prep. It's also most fun since it allows people to break up casually in groups and move around to chat, since we cannot all sit down at 1 table. Too many of us.

If I included all cousins, spouses and their children in Metro Toronto..that is over 60 people.

So here I am in Vancouver...lone ranger. Sharing of food prepared by multiple parties and being pleasantly surprised most of the time by what other family members prepare (or buy ) because usually we don't know in much detail what the entire menu will be, is just normal for me in terms of big family meal celebrations. Usually the host gives vague instructions/gathers vague info. what people will bring...otherwise a person would go insane stuck in food minutaie pre-planning.

I genuinely do come from a family with fairly flexible palates...alot of it learned from each of our childhoods.

[Cataboo]

Unfortunately my house is rarely ever clean enough that I invite people over I tend to do it if my house is clean.

If vegetarians come over - they get pasta with veggies mixed into it and salads... portabella mushrooms, bell peppers, zuchinnis, what not. that's sort of the extent of my ability to cook with vegetables only.

[rubywagon]

Greenbeanw, are you sure it's because you're vegetarian for the non-invites?

Actually, can you believe it is our own PARENTS who won't have us over because we don't eat meat? The last time we ate dinner over at their house the conversation went something like this:

Them: So what are you going to eat if you don't eat the roast?
Us: The potatoes, green beans, rice, side dishes, etc. No worries!
Them: That isn't even a meal.


I need to move somewhere where there are lots of TE'ers apparently! Ya'll are downright hospitable.

[PamNY]

This thread is really making me appreciate my friends and family.

My parents were very respectful when I stopped eating meat. They cooked a wide variety of foods, so it wasn't really a problem.

They also had only one food rule when I was growing up: I didn't have to eat anything I didn't like, but I had to be polite about it. I wish everyone's parents had taught them that. Shutting up is a valuable and rare gift.

My friends are all accommodating about my non-meat needs, far more than I would ever expect or ask for. We do have a years-long history of entertaining at my house, so perhaps I'm reaping goodwill.

Regardless, I consider myself lucky to have a happy food past and present. Even luckier to have a bike so I can eat a lot.