People are very touchy about their food nowadays.
We have to be, there are so many allergies to worry about.
So when someone misses something on a menu that they deem an issue.
It can lead to chaos.
Case in point…
Redditor VividPomelo4981 wanted to discuss her story for some feedback. So naturally she came to visit the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit.
She asked:
“AITA for feeding rabbit stew to my friends?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“My friends and I (mid-30s) like to have themed dinner parties.”
“For example, we’ve had Spanish tapas potlucks; bought ‘miracle fruit’ (the stuff that makes sour foods taste sweet).”
“And tried a bunch of things to see what they tasted like.”
“With the sour made sweet; a friend did a Star Trek menu with plomeek soup (squash and beetroot soup), gagh (sesame noodles), jambalaya, romulan ale, and cellular peptide cake (peppermint cake).”
“Another friend did a The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe menu with toast a la Tumnus, fried fish and boiled potatoes, and Turkish Delight.”
“Stuff like that.”
“I recently decided to host a Lord of the Rings meal, and emailed the invitation and menu to my friends:”
“Lembas (crispy flatbread with homemade jams and mustards), meat pies, vegetarian savory pies (potato and mushroom),”
“Rabbit stew, ent-draught (light spring vegetable soup), salad of foraged greens, berry tarts, beer, sweet cider, and milk, served buffet style.”
“I invited about a dozen adults and their kids (some friends of mine, some friends-of-friends or partners-of-friends), about twenty people total.”
“Everything was going very well until one of the guests asked what the meat was in the rabbit stew.”
“I thought she was joking at first, but she was completely serious.”
“So I said, ‘Well, it’s rabbit.'”
“I live in an area where the lack of natural predators means that we have an overabundance of deer, rabbits, game birds, etc.”
“Such that hunting them is encouraged because otherwise they tend to starve in the winter for lack of sufficient food and/or die of diseases due to overpopulation.”
“I have a hunter friend who trades me meat from these animals for the jams/jellies I make.”
“She freaked out, and her daughter started crying, and then told the other children that they were eating bunnies.”
“Apparently they thought that by ‘rabbit stew’ I meant something like what I meant by ‘lembas’–I was using a fantasy term for something more ‘normal.’ “
“And I guess I can sort of see it, because while they’re different, cooked rabbit isn’t THAT different than dark meat poultry in a stew.”
“I apologized for the miscommunication and for upsetting her and her daughter.”
“But she was still livid, and said that I was the a**hole for serving rabbit under any circumstances.”
“I again apologized for not being clearer that I really did indeed mean rabbits in the rabbit stew.”
“But I wouldn’t apologize for serving rabbit, especially as it was (in my opinion) more sustainably and humanely obtained than if I’d bought a twelve-pack of chicken thighs.”
“She and a few other people think I’m the AH, obviously (mostly people whose kids were upset by the ‘she cooked a bunny’ thing, though until it was framed to them that way, they seemed fine).”
“Others think that I’m not exactly an AH, but that I should have spelled out better in the invite/menu that the rabbit stew was really rabbit,”
“And/or for not just apologizing for serving rabbit in the first place.”
“So, AITA for serving rabbit?”
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
Redditors declared our OP was NOT the A**hole.
It’s a tricky situation.
Let’s hear some thoughts…
“Lol what kind of idiots hear ‘rabbit stew’ and assume that rabbit isn’t in there?”
“I wonder if they know chicken soup has chicken in it!”
“NTA (and this is coming from a rabbit owner lol).” ~ CoolAbbreviations116
“I once had a roommate who drank about a litre of milk every day.”
“I brought home lamb to cook once, and she went off on me a bit, and then said, ‘at least is not veal. Veal is the absolute worst, it’s so cruel!’”
“And went on and on about it.”
“I was raised in the country. I know where veal comes from… it comes from the dairy industry.”
“To get that milk she drinks every damn day, cows need to have calves.”
“And then those calves are raised juuuuuust long enough to be made into veal.”
“But I kept my mouth shut.” ~ Past_Ad_5629
“NTA – She was an A H for scaring the other kids and calling them bunnies to add to the outrage.”
“What a major B word to be honest. Lol.” ~ Rough-Rip-81
“Maybe the theme of the next menu should be Malicious Compliance:”
“Beef tacos (contains real beef)”
“Chicken Noodle Soup (contains real chicken)”
“Apple Pie (contains real apples)”
“NTA. You did nothing wrong and have nothing to apologize for.” ~ The_Krudler
“Completely agree.”
“This did make me think of mock turtle soup, which is meant to imitate green turtle soup, which is made of turtle meat.”
“Mock turtle soup instead used calf brain and other organ meats to duplicate the flavor and texture of turtle meat after they were hunted nearly to extinction.” ~ OhHowIMeantTo
OP brought up some interesting facts…
“The fact that mock turtle soup is made from things that most modern Americans would consider considerably grosser than actual turtle is one of my favorite fun weird food facts.”
“I learned this as a child when my mom explained why the mock turtle was a joke character in Alice in Wonderland.”
“And even if she did think it would be some other kind of meat, why ask after you eat it instead of before if you’re curious and want to know what’s ‘actually in it.'”
“It’s ridiculous to eat something you don’t know the ingredients of and then freak out upon learning what they are.”
“It’s fully your responsibility to be clear about what you’re eating if you have some sort of issue-be it an allergy or bc you just dislike it or whatever.” ~ Valkrhae
“Everything was explained/translated in parentheses after ex. “lembas (crispy flatbread with homemade jams and mustards), and there were no () after “rabbit stew” because it is what it is–no translation necessary.”
“People upset they didn’t pay attention and ate Thumper.”
“Their bad. Not yours. NTA.” ~ arianrhodd
“People are so disconnected from their food, man.”
“Most folks buy their food neatly packaged at the store, and while they may logically understand that mean comes from animals.”
“A vast majority have never seen an animal slaughtered for food.”
“Or skinned and gutted, or butchered, etc.”
“A lot of people have never had rabbit, or venison, or other game meats.”
“Eating them forces people to confront the fact that someone, probably someone they know, killed an animal and now they are consuming its flesh for nourishment.”
“Its a morbid thing to face the reality that tasty, delicious, meats come from cute animals who died.”
“I am a meat eater, yet I have no sympathy for anyone who finds themselves upset because of how they ignorantly consume factory farm animal products.” ~ W0lfprud3
“Agreed. I absolutely love rabbits and have had several, which I considered my children.”
“But if someone tried to serve me ‘rabbit stew,’ I would immediately ask what was in it. NTA.” ~ HRHtheDuckyofCandS
“NTA. I can’t believe an adult needs to be told what kind of meat is in rabbit stew.”
“Did we change the dictionary and move the definition of chicken to rabbit when I wasn’t looking?”
“Also, what is wrong with eating rabbit? I don’t get it.” ~ sweetsundays
“NTA. You called it rabbit stew, if they wanted to be sure it wasn’t actually rabbit then they should have asked.”
“Rabbit is a very normal thing to eat so I don’t get why they were upset.”
“Why is eating poultry or any other animal any different to eating rabbit?” ~ PersonalShopper5
“NTA. I think it’s very safe to assume that ‘rabbit stew’ would contain rabbit.”
“Since you emailed the menu along with the invitations, there was absolutely no reason to ‘spell out’ that rabbit stew really contained rabbit.” ~ SamSpayedPI
“NTA. There’s literally no difference between a rabbit or a turkey and I bet they’re fine eating turkeys.”
“Turkeys are actually very sensitive and loving animals and many people keep them as pets just like rabbits.”
“It never ceases to amaze me how people justify supporting factory farming, which is appalling and disgusting by the way.”
“But freak out over hunting which involves far less suffering for the animal.”
“Ignore them. Lol. They’ll live.” ~Pleasant_Phone_7749
“NTA. Lembas does not exist in the real world.”
“Rabbit stew does. It’s not your fault some people are oblivious to where food comes from.”
“I can only imagine the type of freak out you’d get if you’d served whole fish with the head on.” ~ Terrie-25
Lesson learned.
Always check and double check the menu.
You never know.
Even with that in mind, Reddit will clearly eat with OP whenever.