Fussy Eaters

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DeeFox

Registered User
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296
This topic was mentioned in the "Pet Hates" thread but I think it deserves a whole thread of its own.

I worked as a waitress for years and was constantly amazed by the attitudes of some people. "I'll have a steak and I want it very well done - now I mean very, very, very well done, completely black - if there is any bit of red or pink or even light brown I won't eat it. And I don't like vegetables so I want just chips on their own with my steak and I want LOADS of tomato sauce. And I'll have a diet coke".

I appreciate that some peole have genuine allergies or intolerances but a lot of people used this excuse to change things on the menu. A person might claim to be coeliac when ordering their main course (so that the chef will alter a meal) and then eat a slice of bannofie for their dessert.

And I hate when I see an adult picking at their dinner and picking bits out and pulling faces. If you don't like it don't eat it, just stop acting like a child!

And don't get me started on people who say they don't like something when they've never actually tried it. Or who proudly announce they hate something as if it were some sort of badge of honour.
 
DeeFox said:
And don't get me started on people who say they don't like something when they've never actually tried it. Or who proudly announce they hate something as if it were some sort of badge of honour.
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This drives me mental. At work we always arrange for the whole office to go out for a meal together at Christmas and trying to book a restaurant is a nightmare. There's always someone in the group who won't eat anything more adventurous than chicken and chips (no spice or coating on the chicken!)and everyone is expected to fit in with them and go to some boring restaurant serving the kind of food you could cook yourself at home. Then they sit beaming saying how great it is to find somewhere that serves 'nice ordinary food'. Grrrrrrrrrrr! :mad:
 
heh heh, my aunt is like that. She was once asked when was it she decided to stop trying new things and was not amused. She's a nightmare to take out or cook for.
 
I've a friend like that and for years you'd try to heart out to please him until I finally asked him outright was there anywhere atall he liked. When he said no it made it so much easier to organise anything. I just told him where we were going.

People like that are never happy. Please yourself and they can like it or lump it.
 
I agree. They're the kind of people who go to great lengths, when abroad, to find a McDonald's near the hotel that they can eat all their meals in.
 
I think there is also another problem here sometimes: people who don't really go out for meals but when they do, feel all important and use it as an opportunity to exercise their 'customer is always right' mandate and simply throw their weight around by ordering awkward combinations and things that aren't on the menu. When you combine that with bog standard fussiness it becomes a teeth grindingly awful experience altogether.
 
Fussy eaters drive me mad. Maybe its because Ill try anything and if I dont like it I just dont order it again.

I have a secret theory that fussy eaters are children who were MADE finish everything on their plate and not allowed to leave the table until they did. In my house you just left what you didnt like and no big deal was made out of it.

Its just something I cant relate to - there are so many different tastes to be tried out there, why limit yourself to a plain piece of chicken and chips?

I used to work in a restaurant too and was amazed at the amount of silly changes to what was pretty standard food. The weirdest was the guy who asked for the steak rare, then called me back and asked for it raw. At least he was generating less work for the chef, but the blood running out of it was a bit off putting for the other patrons!!

The worst are the 'I dont like it' brigade. 'Have you ever tried it?'. 'No - but I know I wont like it'. What a pile of rubbish, you dont know by the look of something that you wont like it.
 
We have a rule abroad to eat whatever is on the menu.

I have a friend who doesn't like onions and it makes me aware of how much onion there is out there.

I always look for sauce on the side (except when I'm abroad) and I don't eat chinese food (have tried it though, just don't like it) so have refused to go to nights/lunchs that are in a chinese.
 
DeeFox said:
I appreciate that some peole have genuine allergies or intolerances but a lot of people used this excuse to change things on the menu. A person might claim to be coeliac when ordering their main course (so that the chef will alter a meal) and then eat a slice of bannofie for their dessert.
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Seriously, people pretend to have coeliac disease? I can't understand how this would benefit them-can you give an example?

Would you not point out to them that the bannoffie pie is not gluten free? If they are claiming to be coeliac that is very annoying to those of us that are. I wouldn't let them away with that.

I could understand if it was someone claiming to have a 'wheat allergy' or the likes. Someone I worked with once went for allergy testing. The testing involved being shown little vials of different colours and being asked which colour they liked, and didn't like. Then the tester gave them a list of foods to eat and to avoid. That was really scientific, wasn't it? You'd have to wonder about people, sometimes.
 
+1

Really gets my goat when somebody says they dont like something they have never tried..

I have a friend who will only shop in Superquinns for her food, had her and a few others over for dinner. She said the food was fantastic.... thats when i told her all the ingredients were from the supermarket she hated :D

She now shops there...

People and their funny ideas about food :rolleyes:
 
becky said:
I don't eat chinese food (have tried it though, just don't like it) so have refused to go to nights/lunchs that are in a chinese.
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I dont understand this - its a massive generalisation. You cant possibly have tried every single chinese food dish?
 
Vanilla said:
Seriously, people pretend to have coeliac disease? I can't understand how this would benefit them-can you give an example?

Would you not point out to them that the bannoffie pie is not gluten free? If they are claiming to be coeliac that is very annoying to those of us that are. I wouldn't let them away with that.
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Example - "I'm coeliac. I want the pasta dish but without the actual pasta. Instead I want the fish from the fish special dish to be served with the pasta sauce". Yes it can be done but it is a hassle when the restaurant is really busy. And then to see the same person eating something that clearly isn't suitable for a coeliac was really annoying. If the person orders it themselves and you point out it isn't suitable they might say "oh I can eat a bit of gluten, just not too much". Or, more commonly, their friend might order it and they both eat it.
 
DeeFox said:
If the person orders it themselves and you point out it isn't suitable they might say "oh I can eat a bit of gluten, just not too much".
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God almighty. 'I can eat a bit of gluten'. It's like saying 'I'm a bit pregnant'. :rolleyes:
 
Agree with a lot on this thread.

I'm of the opinion that restaurants shouldnt have to vary whats on the menu. If you dont like it, dont order it.

I've a colleague, and every time he eats out, whether its McDonalds or an expensive restaurant, he always makes a big fuss. As far as I can see, its a combination of attention seeking and wanting to feel superior by dumping on the unfortunate staff. He also wonders why people dont ask him out much :)
 
God, I thought I was intolerant until I read this thread.

If someone wants their steak black, no veg and just chips, what's the big deal?

And why should someone have to sample the entire menu of a chinese restaurant before they have the right say they don't like chinese food?

And if someone doesn't want to try something new, why should they?
 
truthseeker said:
I dont understand this - its a massive generalisation. You cant possibly have tried every single chinese food dish?
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I can understand this. Although there are plenty of different options, if you exclude say schezuan stuff and a few others, Chinese food tends to have a very characteristic taste IMO. I'm not in love with it - I'll eat it but it's certainly my least liked 'ethnic' food.
 
Staples said:
God, I thought I was intolerant until I read this thread.

If someone wants their steak black, no veg and just chips, what's the big deal?

And why should someone have to sample the entire menu of a chinese restaurant before they have the right say they don't like chinese food?

And if someone doesn't want to try something new, why should they?
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Because they put other people to huge trouble - 'We can't book that restaurant, I don't like any of the food on the menu', 'No, we can't go there, I hate Indian food', 'No, we can't go there I'd be sick if I had to eat Chinese food', 'No, that restaurant stinks of garlic, I'm not eating there' and on and on and on.
 
I personally am not a fussy eater, I will eat pretty much anything although I don't really like seafood(and no I haven't tried every single fish out there!). I have to say though if people are going out and paying for a meal, then really they should order what they want, the way the want it. I would much prefer this then if they ordered something they didn't want and then moaned about it all the way through, picking things off and leaving things to side - may as well get what you want and pay for what you want!.
 
Caveat said:
I can understand this. Although there are plenty of different options, if you exclude say schezuan stuff and a few others, Chinese food tends to have a very characteristic taste IMO. I'm not in love with it - I'll eat it but it's certainly my least liked 'ethnic' food.
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Its the MSG no doubt. But you can order dishes that are not floating in a bed of sauce.
 
ney001 said:
I personally am not a fussy eater, I will eat pretty much anything although I don't really like seafood(and no I haven't tried every single fish out there!). I have to say though if people are going out and paying for a meal, then really they should order what they want, the way the want it. I would much prefer this then if they ordered something they didn't want and then moaned about it all the way through, picking things off and leaving things to side - may as well get what you want and pay for what you want!.
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I agree, but I think there's a difference between having certain foods you don't like, and having a knee jerk reation of 'no' to anything you haven't been eating since you were a child. The latter group are difficult to cook for, limiting when trying to choose somewhere to go for a meal out and really annoying on holidays when they refuse to try any local dishes and insist on dragging everyone into touristy style cafes all the time.
 
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