in , ,

Teen Livid When Stepmom Suggests She Has An Eating Disorder After She Refuses To Eat Her ‘Boring’ Cooking

Hinterhaus Productions/GettyImages

Cooking for other people is always a minefield.

It’s especially stressful in this day of allergies and specific diets and tastes.

Not every diner will be happy.

Case in point…

Redditor StringActual2561 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 telling my stepmom her food tastes like sh*t?”

The Original Poster (OP) explained:

“I [16] live with my dad 30% of the time, my mom 70% of the time.”

“I’m with my dad right now.”

“My stepmom is not a good cook.”

“She personally doesn’t like very adventurous foods so she cooks very boring unseasoned food.”

“Sometimes overcooked, undercooked, too hard, too soft, not fresh, unseasoned, that kind of thing.”

“I eat a lot of snacks at their house which annoys her because then I don’t eat as much of what she makes but that’s intentional.”

“At my mom and stepdad’s the food is a lot better.”

“But my stepmom complained again that I wasn’t eating enough of the food on my plate.”

“I said I just wasn’t hungry and she said well you never are, and suggested I had an E[ating] D[isorder] because I had ‘overeaten’ earlier with snacks and now was picking at my dinner again.”

“I said I didn’t have an ED.”

“I just didn’t want to eat what she made.”

“And she was like why not it’s polite… and I said because it tastes like sh*t.

“She got upset and my dad yelled at me and sent me from the table and said I had to eat her food whether I liked it or not.”

“I do cook for myself or help cook all the time at my mom/stepdad’s house.”

“It’s literally one of my chores certain nights.”

“She doesn’t like my food it’s too spicy and I use foods she doesn’t like.”

“Sometimes I’ll cook for myself low-key like for lunch or whatever.”

“But she doesn’t really like me taking up space in the kitchen close to dinner (it’s a small apartment).”

“Also I don’t have a car so if I do want to cook she has to buy ingredients and usually it’s stuff she wouldn’t buy normally.”

“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

For the most part many Redditors declared our OP WAS the A**hole.

Let’s hear some thoughts…

“To her your food tastes like sh*t.”

“Has she ever said that to you?”

“Taste is subjective, each person has their own preferences and people have different cultural preferences based on what they grew up with.”

“Texture, spice, fermentation, and of course flavor are things that different people value differently.”

“You’re not at all an AH for not liking her food or eating snacks instead.”

“To come out and tell her that the food she loves tastes like sh*t is a bit of an AH move.”

“Unless she was doing the same to you prior.”

“It’s honestly a pretty typical ‘no filter teenager’ thing to say. It’s not wrong, from your point of view, but your point of view isn’t the only one.” ~ DogmaticNuance

“Honestly, it’s pretty crappy to suggest that someone has an eating disorder because they eat more in snacks than in meals.”

“Often it’s recommended to eat many small meals over a day instead of one big dinner.”

“And eating disorders really don’t need more misinformation being spread around.”

“Also, if you really do think someone has an eating disorder, you should definitely handle it with more sensitivity and tact.”

“What stepmom did is kind of a similar level to saying ‘You shouldn’t eat so much, you seem overweight’ at the dinner table.”

“My instinct is that the stepmom didn’t actually think she had an eating disorder.”‘

“She was just lashing out, which imo makes it even worse.”

“Eating disorders should be taken seriously, like you’d speak of cancer or a stroke.”

“They shouldn’t be used as an insult.” ~ StarInkbright

“Thats a no from me.”

“I have sooo many issues with food.”

“I will starve myself before i eat something I don’t like.”

“I have issues with texture and taste of foods, that being said i will always try a bite but that is it.”

“Also forcing kids (please correct me if I’m wrong) to eat food/finish food can lead to issues with food later in life.”

“Still the AH for the comments a simple ‘I don’t like it’ would’ve done fine.” ~ Insane-Dreamer

“Honestly we agree it could have been said more polite than ‘it tastes like sh*t.'”

“But undercooked food… or overcooked.”

“No. I would not ‘just chuck it down’ because my stomach would be so upset depending on what food it is.”

“Undercooked potatoes? Undercooked or over cooked meat?”

“Undercooked rice is like chewing on stones.”

“Overcooked rice is… no… the texture is just bad.”

“Over cooked veggies are like chewing in mush.”

“Undercooked veggies can have a really bad taste and feel hard to chew in.”

“And when the woman does not season it at all?”

“Yeah the taste is just double as bad specially if it is over cooked.”

“But the woman took several steps to push, including ‘Oh you must have a ED!'”

“You don’t need to be Gordon Ramsay. But Jesus.”

“Don’t expect major praise if you can’t cook basic things right.”

“She won’t even let OP cook for themselves or help out.”

“I would be living off sandwiches every dinner meal.”  ~ Dangerous-WinterElf

“I disagree.”

“Forcing someone to eat what they don’t want and asking them to “choke it down” is a great way to develop an ED.”

“If he doesn’t like it, and doesn’t want it, he shouldn’t have to eat it.”

“Was it rude to make that comment, yes.”

“Could he offer to help cook or learn recipes himself, yes.”

“But OP is NTA for not eating her food (but probably TA for his choice of words).”  ~ thatcheshirekat

“So all these YTA votes that are harping on OP being ‘ungrateful’ are just going to conveniently breezing by the fact that SM accused OP of having an ED??!??”

“Because at that point it was ok for stepmom to take the gloves off and treat her disgustingly and spout some unfounded crap.”

“But it’s not okay for op to take off her niceness hat and tell her she’s a terrible cook?

“Something is wrong with y’all!”  ~ jamalimua

“NTA. What you said was rude but implying you had an ED was ruder so it’s justified.”

“Maybe start making dinner at your mom’s house the day before you go to your dad’s house and bring it with you so you don’t have to eat her cooking.”

“And don’t have to be in the way of her making their dinner.”  ~ throw_away_800

“ESH. She should have mentioned her concerns about your physical well-being to your father and let him address them with you.”

“You should not speak so rudely to someone cooking food for you.”

“I don’t know what your relationship is like outside of this interaction but you both need to be more respectful of each other.” ~ FewOwl5771

“YTA. Your behavior was rude.”

“There are ways of saying it’s not your style without behaving like you were raised by pigs.”

“Which frankly reflects very poorly on your bio mom (if you love her, don’t shame her with your poor behavior).”  ~ Individual_Baby_2418

“I was the stepmom in this scenario to two ungrateful kids.”

“I am from a different country and love to cook traditional meals, plus gourmet-quality American food.”

“I’m often complimented by friends and family regarding how well I can cook.”

“These kids grew up eating mac and cheese, Ramen noodles, and McDonalds on the couch.”

“They frequently made nasty comments about my food after I had made a huge effort to make sit-down family meals.”

“One time their dad asked what they thought about dinner and one of them said ‘I’m not going to say something nice just to make Moleypeg feel good.'”

“After that, I only cooked for myself.”

“The kids’ meals became their dad’s responsibility.”

“It really put a strain on my relationship with all of them.”

“You didn’t have to be an arsehole to your stepmother.”

“Come up with some compromise that works for you.”

“Ask her or your dad to buy some ingredients/foods you like and maybe you can do some cooking for yourself.”

“Also, it’s really offensive to fill up on snacks when someone is cooking you dinner. YTA.”  ~ Moleypeg

“YTA. Being a jerk about food you’re being fed is so immature and to communicate it like that is complete a**hole behavior.”

“My dad was raised on a farm and they ate what was put in front of them, gratefully.”

“We were raised the same way.”

“We were told flat out that the effort to feed us was quite enough, it didn’t matter if we liked it.”

“We should be grateful to be fed.”

“You act like she is trying to poison you with her bland food. Grow up.”

“She made the effort to cook, be a decent person and eat.”  ~ wildferalfun

Well OP, Reddit is a little all over the map here and there.

But it seems like the cursing may have been a tad much.

Maybe have a quiet chat with the truth.

And you can cook meals together.