Cooking can be a very intimate experience.
Chefs, professionally and at home take great care in their meals.
So when someone comes along and makes changes without asking, it can lead to some drama.
Case in point…
Redditor Happy_Cheesecake_552 wanted to discuss their experience and get some feedback. So naturally, they came to visit the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit.
They asked:
“AITA for forcing my sister to make dinner after she poured maple syrup into my pasta?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“Recently, I hosted a family gathering.”
“I served coleslaw, fruit salad, and cooked meatballs from scratch with a family recipe.”
“I boiled spaghetti as well, and put it in a bowl separately from the meatballs.”
“My sister was the only family member of mine in town at the moment, so she arrived early.”
“She asked to help in the kitchen, and I allowed her to do so, assuming she would not sabotage my cooking.”
“When I walked back into the kitchen, to my horror I saw, and smelled, that she poured maple into the pasta and meatballs, and mixed them into the same bowl.”
“I asked her what the hell she did.”
“She look confused, and responded that she added syrup to the spaghetti.”
“What she did was so shocking that it amused me, and I questioned her reasoning for this move.”
“She said that pasta was a carb and made of wheat just as pancakes, and that meatballs were red meat just as bacon, so her combination was normal and would taste good.”
“I simply shook my head and said ‘no.'”
“It took me a second to comprehend, but she ruined the meal I made.”
“I asked her to make something to make up for what she ruined.”
“She did as I asked, but I had to stop her after she took my wonder bread, peeled off the crusts, and spooned coleslaw onto her ‘sandwich.'”
“I gave up, and told her to stall our guests while I boil pasta.”
“Making meatballs would take an incredibly long amount of time.”
“When I was done, I told her that she can eat the coleslaw sandwich which she made for dinner.”
“Because I could not afford to waste more food.”
“When my family and I sat at the dinner table to eat, she would try to passive-aggressively bring up how I did not let her eat what everyone else was having.”
“I then brought up that she ruined my meatballs with maple syrup.”
“My brother asked us what had happened.”
“I explained how our sister poured syrup into the meal I had cooked.”
“My brother winced, and said that despite how unappetizing her combo sounded it was cruel to not let her eat what everyone else was having, and make her eat a horrible sandwich.”
“I told him that she made the sandwich, and that she can eat it.”
“I do feel like that I was honestly being an a**hole in this scenario.”
“Now I am asking the wise folks of Reddit to tell me if I was being an a**hole.”
“I am 24, sis is 26, and my brother is 18.”
“AITA?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed some options to the question AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Many Redditors declared OP was NOT the A**hole.
“NTA. Is your sister Buddy the Elf? Who does that? ~ Graves_Digger
“I think the better question is what exactly did she take before coming over.”
“This sounds like some serious drunk/high cooking to me.” ~ Disastrous-Bee-1557
“Same here… never seen that as well. Mama Mia!”
“Not in this family… they’d make anyone wash AND dry dishes, pots and pans.”
“You wouldn’t believe how many they really are.”
“TO OP, NTA.”
“At first, I read before I reached the bottom and went ‘how old is sister?'”
“‘If she’s that old, that could be dementia?'”
“I scrolled up and couldn’t find the ages of yours and your sister until I reached the end.”
“Oh only 26 years old?”
“Wow… unbelievable. Those are inedible! *shudder* So is cole slaw.”
“I hate cole slaw, LOL.”
“Homemade meatballs take a lot of time to make but worth it though.”
“Too bad they were ruined.” ~ MischievousBish
“Soooo… my hubby (42 M[ale]) puts syrup on his spaghetti. LOL.”
“He doesn’t like spaghetti, its the sauce.”
“And was taught as a kid to eat what is given to you, so to get rid of the sauce taste he puts syrup on it.”
“He likes meatballs though. But he would never do this.”
“He would only do it to his own plate.”
“If I want spaghetti for dinner, I keep it all separate, and only put pasta and meatballs on his plate.”
“Then he can put what he wants on it. We don’t have it often.”
“Two of our daughters don’t like it either lol.”
“But I laughed at these comments, cause of how my hubby is.”
“But he doesn’t get high or drunk.” ~ LCarver1869
“NTA I mean she ate what she made.”
“Honestly I’d serve her a bowl of that maple syrup and meatball spaghetti to go with it.”
“Let her see how her logic holds up.” ~ Old-Strategy-672
“I mean, honey and meat does have a history, but it sounds like the fault of the sister here is threefold…”
“Doing this without the consent of OP.”
“Adding the syrup way too late in the game.”
“Mixing both the meatballs and the pasta together and ruining both dishes.”
“Plus making it unable for guests to pick and choose, instead forcing them to be grandfathered into having the one diabolical meal.”
“Like, I’ve seen recipes for Asian dishes were soy sauce is mixed with maple syrup in order to help the sauce cling to the noodles and protein.”
“It’s not that it can’t work, it’s just the execution here was flawed.” ~ addisonavenue
“NTA and I believe she is either developmentally challenged or she was deliberately attempting to sabotage your meal for who knows what kind of cockamamie reasons.”
“For starters no one just waltzes into someone else’s home and adds ingredients to something that is cooking.”
“That is just really poor manners because presumably the person cooking has decided how the dish will be prepared.”
“If the chef asks for an opinion after offering a taste someone can suggest.”
“Your sister isn’t even smart enough to understand that bacon isn’t soaked in maple syrup.”
“But it is used as part of the curing process because cured meat generally has a small amount of sweet stuff added as part of the cure as do lots of barbecue rubs.”
“But spaghetti and meatballs is a dish that one that has its own flavor profile and maple syrup isn’t part of that.” ~ Jujulabee
“My mouth fell open when I read the sister is 26.”
“I expected to see that she was 6-10 or something! NTA.” ~ SimmingPanda
“Was OP’s sister high?”
“And I mean that literally, the only time I’ve ever made such tasteless culinary blunders was under the influence of some ganja munchies.”
“For example, back in college I once added salmon to spaghetti sauce under a similar protein=protein line of thought.”
“But I was so high as balls at the time I should probably not have been using the stovetop!”
“It turned out more disgusting than I thought possible.” ~ Lycoris
“NTA… but what pharmaceutical had your sister consumed and did she need a trip to the emergency room?”
“If your sister has legitimate developmental issues maybe you were not wise to leave her alone in the kitchen but… what the hell?” ~ NanaLeonie
“NTA. Are you sure she didn’t do this deliberately?”
“The nerve of your sister to first ask to help in the kitchen.”
“Second, ruin a meal.”
“And third, when asked to cook another one she decided coleslaw on bread was a good replacement.”
“If so, why did she complain about not being able to eat the replacement meal?” ~ ajnabee1234
“NTA. Even if she thinks that’s a good combo, she didn’t consult you despite you having made and paid for it all.”
“She doesn’t get to make unilateral decisions for everyone eating.”
“Has she ever put syrup on pasta with meatballs before??”
“I just don’t even get what she was thinking.”
“It’s not like that’s a regular thing people do, and she has to have known that.” ~ hiitsali
“Seeing that your sister is 26- you are NTA.”
“She chose to do what she did.”
“She also chose to make a coleslaw sandwich all by herself.”
“She then puts on a show when everyone else is eating something different.”
“You should have just asked her to leave because the after effect would have been the same.” ~ Dry_Dragonfruit_4191
“NTA. I put a bit of maple syrup in my spaghetti sauce so the idea of it isn’t that odd to me.”
“Having said that, if they wanted maple syrup they should have added it to their own serving and not the communal dish.” ~ GibberBabble
“NTA, but for the future, you don’t need to throw out the food.”
“You could have saved the meal by putting the meatballs and pasta in a colander and rinsing the sauce off.”
“Then make a new sauce quickly and pour that over.”
“Did you try it before throwing it out?”
“Depending on how much syrup she put in, if it didn’t taste too horrible, you could have added more tomato paste.”
“Then maybe some mustard, and balsamic vinegar, as well as some paprika and other spices to turn it into a bbq style meatball and pasta dish.”
“There’s normally always ways to salvage meals.” ~ Rockpoolcreater
Well OP, Reddit is with you.
People shouldn’t mess with the menu without asking.
Hopefully this doesn’t stay a problem with the family.
Now everyone is clear for next time.
Enjoy.