Redditor nofood56789 is a 53-year-old woman whose 22-year-old daughter lives with her and cooks for them.
Despite acknowledging the daughter is a “great cook,” the Redditor was caught making adjustments to the dishes her daughter makes for them.
When the ensuing confrontation turned spiteful, she visited the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITA) subReddit and asked:
“AITA for telling my daughter I won’t eat her food anymore?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained why she didn’t prefer her daughter’s cooking.
“My daughter is vegan and is currently living with me. She has been cooking vegan meals from time to time and offering them to me, which I gladly accept because she’s a great cook.”
“I always add meat or cheese to my portion of the food. I love meat and cheese and it tastes much better with it. My daughter noticed that and asked me if I always do that to her meals, I told her yes.”
“She got very upset about that and said that it feels like I’m changing her cooking and implying that what she cooks tasty isn’t enough.”
“I told her that that’s my preference. She asked me if I ever tried her food without adding anything. I told her no.”
“I never tried being vegan or vegetarian but I know it’s not for me and she never pressured me into trying it.”
“She, still upset, told me that I would survive one meal without animal products. I then told her that I won’t eat her food anymore if she’s so butthurt over my preference.”
“She is still sulking in her room over it. AITA for telling her that I won’t eat her food anymore?”
Strangers online were asked to declare one of the following:
- NTA – Not the A**hole
- YTA – You’re the A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everybody Sucks Here
Many Redditors didn’t look favorably on the OP for refusing to budge on her stance.
“INFO: so you’ve never ever, not once, in your entire time on this planet, eaten a dish that didn’t contain meat or cheese?”
“You’ve never had a vegetable soup, or a mixed salad, or hummus and crudités, or spaghetti with marinara sauce? You’ve never just eaten a piece of fruit, or a fruit salad? You’ve never had candy or sweets that don’t contain gelatine?”
“If someone gave you fruit sorbet, would you immediately add custard because a dish has to have animal products to taste good?”
“I’m not vegan or vegetarian BTW, I am a meat eater (although currently not a dairy eater because reasons). I like meat, but if someone gave me a home cooked meal such as a vegetable curry, I’m not going to start shredding ham into it. Because that’s both weird and ill-mannered.”
“You admit this happens ‘from time to time.’ You admit your daughter is a ‘great cook.’ So, from time to time, you can eat what she cooks. She’s not forcing vegan food on you three meals a day seven days a week.”
“It won’t hurt you to eat two meat free dishes a week or something. At the very least, try it before making additions. Yknow, manners.”
“You might even enjoy it without.” – Ermithecow
“YTA. Remove the idea of veganism from this entirely—if you put effort into cooking a meal for your loved one, then they looked at it and said ‘I won’t like that’ and added a bunch of stuff without even tasting it, how would you feel?”
“It’s a dick move. Eating some damn vegetables for a change won’t kill you.” – diegrauedame
“YTA because you haven’t even tried it as she cooks it. You can’t say it tastes ‘much better’ when you don’t even have a baseline.”
“And she’s right, one meal without meat or cheese wouldn’t kill you. Like have you never had a vegetable soup or something?” – kalikosparrows
“YTA try her food first. She went through a lot of effort to make it for you; the least you could do is see if you actually like it. How do you know it tastes so much better with meat and cheese if you don’t try her food first?”
“It feels like you’re angry at her for being a vegan or something and are trying to resist her pushing her lifestyle on you when all she’s doing is sharing her food with you. Eating a meal on its own without certain things isn’t going to harm you.”
“If you really don’t like it, fine – but you didn’t even give it a chance. Imagine if every time you ordered something at a restaurant you dumped a bottle of ketchup on it without tasting it first, and then imagine getting pissed at people for wanting you to try the food first because ketchup is your preference.” – cloudcottage
“Yep. I was 100% with OP … until they said they’d never even tried it. What? That’s… just so ignorant.” – Fiotes
“Also how much do we want to bet OP has eaten plenty of vegan meals without noticing because it wasn’t “obviously vegan”. So many things that are technically vegan that people don’t even think twice about because they aren’t specifically removing/substituting an animal product in it.” – future_nurse19
“YTA, you even say she is a great cook and You sound childish. I’m a big meat lover and a good cook, and it irritates the heck out of me when people don’t even try my food before they throw seasonings on it, I know how your daughter would feel.”
“YTA – I have two issues:”
“First at least try it once. She cooks for you, it’s the least you can do. I don’t like most vegan food, but I tried different vegan dishes for various reasons and found some I actually like.Secondly, I hope you were nicer about the whole thing than you come across in the text.”
“There’s some amazing vegan meals out there, and the fact you wouldn’t even try it without Adding stuff to it sounds extremely narrow minded.” – Roadgoddess
Overall, Redditors continued slamming the OP for upsetting her daughter and for never having tried the dishes the way they were intended to be enjoyed.