People will cook more if eaters will complain less (wine, ingredient, mushrooms)

[Luvvarkansas]

Originally Posted by cb at sea

I know what my family likes and doesn't....so I don't cook the stuff they don't like!

Mine don't like much, but they complain about having the same old thing over and over! grrrr

Whenever I try something new, they look at it like a calf looking at a new gate.

So, I find myself stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[Jukesgrrl]

Originally Posted by cb at sea

I know what my family likes and doesn't....so I don't cook the stuff they don't like! If it's something I love, I will sometimes make it for ME....but I don't force it on them!

That isn't possible in my extended family because they change what they will or will not eat constantly. Every person in my family has a LONG list of things they will not eat. Which would be fine if the list stayed the same, but it doesn't. I like to cook, but have given up inviting my relatives to dinner for anything but holidays because they are all so picky and it's virtually impossible to please the entire group.

I recently cooked for a relative's birthday. I had coq au vin as the main course since the last time I checked they all ate chicken (and no one objects to alcohol in the food ... this week at least). Two of the young adults passed on the main course. One also doesn't eat salad or vegetables as a long-standing practice, so she only took the bread and the buttered/herbed noodles, which were a side dish (she did get a helping of protein from the white bean dip I had as an appetizer and she ate a lot of that). The other ate bread and vegetables, foregoing the noodles as well as the chicken. Their own mother questioned them about why they refused the main course, which she pronounced as "delicious." The one eating the buttered noodles said she was "trying to be a vegan" (?). The other just mumbled that she "didn't feel like eating meat today."

Please note that everyone at the table ate the dessert of homemade chocolate cake and salted caramel gelato (from Trader Joe's). The "vegan" even had a second helping of gelato. One of the other guests who is supposedly on an extreme weight-loss diet also ate the dessert, as did an elderly person I know is supposed to forego dairy products.

Seriously, how am I supposed to plan a meal around those practices?

[Threestep2]

I love to cook and apparently I am a fair cook. I have been know to pull a plate from a drama mama and throw plate and everything in the trash. Yes, I have a temper once I get baited long enough.

[Clemencia53]

Originally Posted by convextech

But what you're describing is about people who just didn't like whatever you cooked, and don't want it again for whatever reason. What is wrong with that? I wouldn't consider it complaining. I just wouldn't make it again. Who wants to waste food?

Exactly - why make something that no one is going to eat!

[Clemencia53]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

picky eaters ..seems to run in the family...like cats on how they approach food...

while non picky eaters are like dogs ...


be careful even saying the words "picky eater" evokes some emotional baggage/hysteria

ive lightened up my stance in my old age.... people like what they like ,,as long as they dont fuss about things too much

at gatherings i go buffet style,,,grab what you want

i will not push a kid into eating something they dont like- i saw too much of that with friends growing up



you also have to consider if at a big meal with many appetizers and courses.... you can get filled up in a hurry


i hate seeing chips out at gatherings,,,one of them avoidance foods- i dont ever buy them or eat them,,,but if they are in front of me,,,damn dont they taste good
a couple weeks ago someone had some awesome sweetnsour meatballs,,,i had to walk away from them,,,i could have eaten the whole dish ..

I know - this kid torture - lol. I was lucky. I grew up in the 1960s but my mom let me eat what I wanted. I was kid number 9 and maybe she didn't want to fight. But honestly, I cannot remember ever any of us being forced or told that we had to finish everything on our plates. Meals were happy times. And I had 5 brothers that were human vacuum cleaners. No food was going to waste anyway. And she grew up during the Depression, so it wasn't like they didn't know hard times.

[Clemencia53]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

That isn't possible in my extended family because they change what they will or will not eat constantly. Every person in my family has a LONG list of things they will not eat. Which would be fine if the list stayed the same, but it doesn't. I like to cook, but have given up inviting my relatives to dinner for anything but holidays because they are all so picky and it's virtually impossible to please the entire group.

I recently cooked for a relative's birthday. I had coq au vin as the main course since the last time I checked they all ate chicken (and no one objects to alcohol in the food ... this week at least). Two of the young adults passed on the main course. One also doesn't eat salad or vegetables as a long-standing practice, so she only took the bread and the buttered/herbed noodles, which were a side dish (she did get a helping of protein from the white bean dip I had as an appetizer and she ate a lot of that). The other ate bread and vegetables, foregoing the noodles as well as the chicken. Their own mother questioned them about why they refused the main course, which she pronounced as "delicious." The one eating the buttered noodles said she was "trying to be a vegan" (?). The other just mumbled that she "didn't feel like eating meat today."

Please note that everyone at the table ate the dessert of homemade chocolate cake and salted caramel gelato (from Trader Joe's). The "vegan" even had a second helping of gelato. One of the other guests who is supposedly on an extreme weight-loss diet also ate the dessert, as did an elderly person I know is supposed to forego dairy products.

Seriously, how am I supposed to plan a meal around those practices?

Its basically a stew - right? I wouldn't eat it either. Hate "boiled" chicken, now a nice crispy roast chicken would be great. They might all eat chicken, but prepared how?

[elnina]

Originally Posted by Luvvarkansas

Oh my goodness, do NOT get me started on the picky eaters in my house!!!!! It started with hubby and extended on to both kids. No wonder I do not like to cook!

I think most kids are not born picky eaters. We make them so.
Picky kids grow up to be picky adults, and then they have kids, and their kids learn that to be a picky eater its OK, acceptable or even desired...

But back to topic - it also depends on the cooking skills. Someone who cooks always same boring, bland dishes can't expect others to be cheerful about.

[no kudzu]

Originally Posted by convextech

But what you're describing is about people who just didn't like whatever you cooked, and don't want it again for whatever reason. What is wrong with that? I wouldn't consider it complaining. I just wouldn't make it again. Who wants to waste food?

I don't consider not liking what I prepare complaining either. There are polite ways of getting the meaning across like leaving it on the plate after at least trying it once.

I bet I try a new recipe at least once every 10 days. My family expects new things and they seem to enjoy the new recipes. Getting kids involved in the kitchen is the best way to get them to try new things. They take pride in what they have prepared themselves.

My father was an Oklahoma meat (preferably beef) and potatoes guy with a salad...E.V.E.R.Y. N.I. G.H.T.
BORING.....I don't remember ever being served spinach, broccoli, asparagus, etc. it just wasn't happening. But when I left home I learned to eat all sorts of things I never had at home. And when I would cook for my parents my father would always exclaim about how good things were and ask for seconds. And I don't think he was faking it either. This would make my mother's blood boil.

Two pieces of WRONG advice she gave me were to never touch a boy on the leg and men don't like casseroles.

[Scooby Snacks]

I'll try most anything once, but if it looks or smells revolting, I can't give it even a first try. My awesome neighbors threw a wonderful New Year's Eve bash. They make an interesting New Year's concoction: black eyed peas with mayonnaise, and they kept bugging everyone to try it. They swore we'd love it even though it looked gross. I like black eyed peas but I normally eat it with vinegar for New Year's. So I decided to check out their experiment and keep an open mind. I examined the styrofoam bowl with black eyed peas swimming in what looked like a watery cream sauce, and a wave of nausea washed over me. I just couldn't handle trying it, despite my mad love for my friends

[oregonwoodsmoke]

There are no picky eaters in my family and everyone is a good cook.

With a new recipe, we enjoy critiquing it. Do we want it again, what would be an improvement, do spices need adjusting, that sort of thing. Analysis of the food is not considered to be an insult.