When it comes to cooking, moms usually rule in the kitchen.
And while their efforts are always appreciated for feeding the family and for creating dishes many kids are raised on, that doesn’t mean every dish is a winner.
For Redditor puzzlesandpenguins, one particular cuisine was not one of mom’s best.
The Original Poster (OP) visited the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITA) subReddit and asked:
“AITA for not wanting to eat homemade sushi?”
The OP explained:
“So sushi is my favourite food and we’re not from far east asia AT ALL. I end up ordering sushi once a month since nobody else in my house likes it.”
“My mom has been shaming me for eating sushi and calling it disgusting and not appreciative of it at all (Sushi being the only food she disapproves of for some reason).”
“I had not paid any attention to her until recently when she started asking me what ingredients go into it and the whole host of it.
“I directly told her to not attempt making sushi because not only will it not taste good, but also I am very picky with the type of sushi I like so I wouldn’t be eating it. She said ok.”
“Low and behold, today she presents a plate of ‘sushi’ which looks like an absolute disaster, and despite her having used wrong rice (it wasn’t sticky, it was plain watery) I tried it out of curiosity and tried to appreciate her efforts.”
“It was not good. The smell of it was so weird that my face contorted and I could not eat any more. She took it as the highest form of insult and says I’m an a**hole for making weird faces and insulting her cooking by not even eating it entirely.”
“She cooks our local cuisine very well and as much as I dont mind her branching out, I specifically asked her to not make sushi at home.”
“Had it been anything else, I probably wouldn’t have minded it. Also, I do appreciate her cooking 99% of the time.”
“AITA?”
“Mum is vegetarian, has never tried eating sushi. (Not even the vegetarian ones) She does cook with fish and meat though.”
Strangers on the internet were asked to declare one of the following:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- NAH – No A**holes Here
Many Redditors believed the OP was not the a**hole in the situation and explained why the mother making sushi for the first time was not a good idea.
“NTA. Sushi (many forms of it, though not all) involves uncooked fish. If prepared by someone who doesn’t know exactly what they are doing, that poses a health risk.”
“Fish sold from most fish counters in supermarkets is NOT suitable for making sushi. Protecting your health is never an AH move.”
“Probably the best way forwards would be to choose some forms of sushi that involve exclusively cooked ingredients, and make those together.” – Emotional-Ebb8321
“I learned this the hard way when I tried to make salmon sushi and caused food poisoning to me and my boyfriend…”
“Never again!” – Ameryana
“I don’t understand why your mother wanted to cook something for you that she 1. thinks is disgusting, and 2. that you have multiple times asked her not to attempt to prepare.”
“I assume she had good intentions, not that she was trying to turn you off the food forever or compete with the restaurants.”
“You were polite enough to try it and that’s what matters. I can’t imagine how awful sushi with the wrong watery rice was. And I’d be worried about how fresh the fish was if she went for raw fish.”
“Your ‘weird face’ isn’t purposely insulting her cooking. (if you had gagged, that was an honest reaction – this sounds similar) NAH” – ParsimoniousSalad
In response, the OP replied:
“She loves cooking and widening her repertoire, and also likes making what I like? So I think she kinda compromised with her views and tried to make it, which is why I feel bad.”
“But then, it wasn’t very good and I ended up making a face because of the combination of bad rice with raw fish etc.”
The mostly NTA judgments continued in the thread.
“NTA. She sucked a cooking a relatively difficult dish the first time she tried then got her feelings hurt when you didn’t like it.”
“If all you did was make a face and not want to eat it, Idk why she’s so upset. Maybe she’s just used to being a good cook. But using the wrong rice is a BIG miss.” – bartkurcher
“NTA! I have tried making sushi myself and trust me, I rather buy it.”
“Cooking is an art, she is good at her own cuisine, she is just not good at Sushi and you were honest. You can’t fake that you like it, you were risking her trying it again.” – Boozychka
“NTA, the faces and inability to eat it were probably an involuntary reaction.”
“I would have said NAH since she was just trying to make you your favourite food, but she shouldn’t guilt trip you for not liking something she made. You weren’t mean or rude about it, you just didn’t like it. Nothing personal.”
“I guess you could have said you really appreciated the effort though and you didn’t want to hurt her feelings.” – Amethyst_Lovegood
“NTA – your mother tried to make you something that you like, I think? But sushi is a delicate process and, as someone else pointed out, it’s made with raw fish, which can be a huge health issue.”
“I read in your other comments that she likes broadening her horizons – why don’t you try to take a cooking course together on making sushi?”
“It might be a nice bonding experience, and when someone else brings the ingredients and shows how to do it (keep the fish COLD and how to properly prepare the right rice) then she can’t argue against that.” – Ameryana
“NTA I don’t mind homemade sushi but it has to be properly made. I tried making the rice myself, I messed up and didn’t eat it. Also, you don’t ‘experiment’ with raw fish.” – rainbowsandMetal
“NTA. Why would she even try when she dislikes it so much? sushi is an art form. Bad sushi is… REALLY bad.” – BellaSantiago1975
One person asked what the ingredients were since most Redditors assumed the mother used raw fish—which is not used for every type of sushi.
The OP clarified:
“There was some raw salmon involved and some prawns (not tempura but cooked), so it wasn’t the most authentic but she tried.”
Overall, Redditors said the OP was NTA and warned that making sushi is not something to be attempted without proper experience due to food poisoning risks.