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Redditor Stirs Drama By Giving Honest Opinion About Sister-In-Law’s ‘Bland’ Cooking When Asked

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People should know that there are more spices than just salt and pepper. You can at least add some cumin to the mix.

But, not everyone likes the same food, and that is not a personal attack on the person who cooked it.

Redditor Cessies encountered this very issue with their sister-in-law. So they turned to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit for moral judgment.

They asked:

“AITA for telling my sister in-law I don’t like her food?”

The Original Poster (OP) explained:

“My husbands older sister loves to host dinner parties and have us over for dinner. I hate it.”

“She cannot cook. My husband says she cooks just like their mom used to so he’s used to it. But I can’t deal.”

“Her potatoes are always a soggy mess, she overcooks meat and she doesn’t season any of her food. Just throws it together and calls it a day.”

“She made stir fry and fried rice but the rice had nothing, not even egg in it, and I would say it’s bland but sometimes it tastes so damn bad.”

“And she has no salt to offer us usually so you can’t season food at the table.”

OP is not the only one who feels this way.

“Others feel the same but don’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“Then last week she decided to host an early birthday dinner for my husband and I just couldn’t.’

“I said I wasn’t feeling good. But she said I never eat everything and wanted to know why.”

“I told her that her cooking wasn’t for me and she was pissed. She told me we’re not all naturally gifted or lucky enough to have chef’s in the family.”

“My husband told her she has to understand most people aren’t used to it.”

“AITA?”

Redditors gave their opinions on the situation by declaring:

  • NTA – Not The A**hole
  • YTA – You’re The A**hole
  • NAH – No A**holes Here
  • ESH – Everyone Sucks Here

Redditors were conflicted about who was at fault.

“NTA. You gave a polite excuse. She shouldn’t ask questions she doesn’t want answers to.” ~ etds3

“Normally, I’d agree but -“

“Presumably she’s inviting them to the dinner party, not leading them there at gunpoint. They must be saying ‘yes’. If I invite someone around for food, and they accept, I assume they’re happy to eat the food.”

“If I invited someone around for dinner, they agreed, didn’t eat the food then said they didn’t like it when asked, I’d wonder why they’d bothered coming. If I’d been cooking for them for some time, and then they revealed they didn’t like it, I’d be humiliated and upset.”

“I think the real a**hole here might be the husband for letting this situation keep going on.”

“EDIT: As people have pointed out below, family is different. I agree! But I don’t think this detracts from my point.”

“If OP’s husband is close to his family, he should be able to tell his sister that her cooking sucks – which he actually did. If they’re not close, it won’t matter if they make excuses to avoid meals and meet up at other times.”

“Either way, it should not have been on OP to suffer through the meals or talk to the SIL herself. I think the husband should have dealt with it.” ~ combatwombat1192

Many agreed they had an obligation to be polite since she is family and was trying to do something nice for OP’s husband.

“I mean it’s pretty obvious the reason they came in the first place was because this is her husband’s sister and they wanted to be polite by accepting the invitation.” ~ aurumphallus

“Family is different, though. I would still visit family for family dinners even if their cooking was awful because, well, assuming they’re not otherwise bad people, I want to see my family. Family dinners are often traditional things, and the ritual gets observed even if the food is terrible.” ~ schoolsout4evah

“Fair enough. All of this could have been settled by turning these ‘Family Get-Togethers’ into a potluck.” ~ mines_over_yours

“I was looking for this. I have kids with food allergies that people just can’t get right, so we bring stuff that our kids can eat. Make life so much easier when just bring something that you like.” ~ Glittering_knave

“It’s not just the food, but the company. People would come for that reason alone. You can get something to eat before you go, and maybe bring a dessert to share.” ~ Kooky_Sprinkles64

“Most people who accept invitations to dinner parties do so because they want to socialize, not for the food. If it was just eating, they could accomplish that with a lot less trouble at home.” ~ john35093509

Others suggested to just bring some seasoning.

“My family kept salt and pepper on the table. Something wasn’t salty enough or whatever? Just add it. BUT my boyfriends family, never leaves salt or pepper out and consider it an insult to ask for it.”

“They cooked a meal and they consider it rude if you want to add something to it. However, his family is actually great cooks and season the food well where you don’t need to add anything.”

“When I was first getting to know his family, I asked for salt for some corn. They gave me weird looks but got it for me. Later my boyfriend explained why they did that and how they think its rude. Now when they serve corn, I just butter it up extra.”

“Still good. (I just like salty corn). But I don’t ask for salt anymore.” ~ catroxsteady

“NTA. you were really polite in your answer (maybe more than necessary based off the way you spoke about her cooking). Yeah, she probably was hurt by what you said, but you didn’t say anything callous or disrespectful about her.” ~ philosophicallyill

“I definitely know people from older generations who’d throw a hissyfit if you said you didn’t enjoy their unseasoned food. Actually most of the people I know like that are older. It might be where I grew up is a very ‘clean your plate and thank the host’ culture.” ~ plantainsupreme

“Yup.”

“I grew up thinking that turkey was nasty. Turns out that when you don’t cook it to death, it’s actually quite good. My family would make the same 6 boring, tasteless dishes every single holiday and it was miserable.”

“But if you dare speak ill of sad flavorless foods, there will be hell to pay because that’s a family recipe!! Bruh, boiling plain potatoes and beating the shit out of them with a sad little patty of margarine isn’t a damn recipe. Turkey shouldn’t cook for 8 hours because you decided to ram ten pounds of stuffing up its ass.”

“When we took over hosting, my husband and I slowlyyyy integrated flavoring into the foods. One time someone commented that the potatoes taste just like X used to make them. It took all my will power to not blurt out, oh God, I hope not!” ~ OddSun115

Food taste is so subjective.