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I'm not a germaphobe and i know the kinds of things that go on in factories and restaurants. But something about the idea of eating food that has Fluffie's hair in it, or having seen little granules of litter that have fallen from between Fluffie's toes onto the kitchen counter is just off putting. Or eating something SIL made when I know for a fact that she leaves milk on the counter for hours at a time is not something I'm willing to risk.
For you folks that will just toss the food, SPEAK UP!!! Tell the gifter that you appreciate the thoughts but won't eat the food and would they like it back. As a food gifter, I will GLADLY take back anything I make and eat it myself. Yes, feelings Might be hurt in the short term, but I'd rather know that you don't want food than to put my time, effort and love into something that you're just going to pitch into the trash. And you, as the person tossing that item, ought to show enough respect for the gifter to tell them the truth.. else you are symbolically demonstrating just what that persons time, effort and love are worth to you ~ nothing, it's trash. Not sure how a person could live with themselves and that knowledge, but hey... people surprise me all the time.
Be a decent person, don't toss handmade items (food, or otherwise). If you don't like something, speak up, say you appreciate the thought/time/effort and love but it's not something you'd eat/enjoy.
Funny story about hoarders and non sanitary kitchens. I have a relative who was in the Peace Corps in a third world country. She did not always (to be honest rarely did) follow the "rules and precautions" such as washing all fruits and vegetables before you eat them, yet she had absolutely no gastro-intestinal issues. Other volunteers sometimes had weeks or even months of diarrhea and she never did. She firmly believes that it was because she was exposed to "lots of germs" when she was a child, played in the dirt, made mud pies, drank raw milk, visited relatives who were less than sanitary in the kitchen, etc.
(I should point out that she always purified the water for drinking and cooking, but other things, "Nope, not important".)
Yes, the Hygiene Hypothesis. Seems to be legitimate.
When my sister, 12 years older than me, was a toddler, she started eating dirt. My mother, a first time Mom, rushed her to the old country doctor, who examined her carefully, and then said, "Hmmm. Must be something in it she needs." So when I came along, and did the same, Mama shrugged and went about her business. Daddy grew up on a farm where our grandparents still lived, and I spent my childhood with the run of an 800 acre church camp with all that implies in the way of germ exposure of numerous kinds.
Daddy being a preacher we ate LOTS of food that was prepared by other people, either as gifts or at church suppers.
We were both very very healthy and remained so well into adulthood. Health issues have more to do with getting old than anything else, and those are minor.
Well, is Halloween banned because of that? Kids don't eat candy given by strangers on Halloween?
I remember when parents started getting paranoid about candy at Halloween. Seems a kid was poisoned by candy he got at Halloween, three other kids got the same candy but didn't eat it, and it was all over the news. Only it turned out that it was NOT candy that he got from a stranger for Halloween; his own father, for the insurance, poisoned him and tried to make it look that way. That didn't get anywhere near as much coverage and the damage was done.
For you folks that will just toss the food, SPEAK UP!!! Tell the gifter that you appreciate the thoughts but won't eat the food and would they like it back. As a food gifter, I will GLADLY take back anything I make and eat it myself. Yes, feelings Might be hurt in the short term, but I'd rather know that you don't want food than to put my time, effort and love into something that you're just going to pitch into the trash. And you, as the person tossing that item, ought to show enough respect for the gifter to tell them the truth.. else you are symbolically demonstrating just what that persons time, effort and love are worth to you ~ nothing, it's trash. Not sure how a person could live with themselves and that knowledge, but hey... people surprise me all the time.
Be a decent person, don't toss handmade items (food, or otherwise). If you don't like something, speak up, say you appreciate the thought/time/effort and love but it's not something you'd eat/enjoy.
The thought and effort are the bigger part of the gift, not the resulting food. I can appreciate the thought and effort that went into it without having to eat it, and no it's not worth hurting someone's feelings over by telling them I won't be eating it.
No I do not throw out good food. I stopped giving out my home made jams, when I found out, one person was dumping it. If you are not going to eat it, don't accept it. To take it & then trash it, is very rude (imo)
I'm not a germaphobe and i know the kinds of things that go on in factories and restaurants. But something about the idea of eating food that has Fluffie's hair in it, or having seen little granules of litter that have fallen from between Fluffie's toes onto the kitchen counter is just off putting. Or eating something SIL made when I know for a fact that she leaves milk on the counter for hours at a time is not something I'm willing to risk.
Don't worry so much about the milk, but do worry about Fluffie's hair.
I'm not a germaphobe and i know the kinds of things that go on in factories and restaurants. But something about the idea of eating food that has Fluffie's hair in it, or having seen little granules of litter that have fallen from between Fluffie's toes onto the kitchen counter is just off putting. Or eating something SIL made when I know for a fact that she leaves milk on the counter for hours at a time is not something I'm willing to risk.
I can see this when you know for a fact that someone has less-than-optimum sanitary habits. But my friend's sister declined an invitation to dinner just because I had cats. My friend said her sister said she just couldn't eat at my house knowing there were "filthy animals" there. She just assumed I let my cats roam over the kitchen counters or didn't clean or something. I wasn't insulted because she's a miserable human being who gets her enjoyment in life by criticizing and insulting everyone, and this way I knew I never had to feel obligated to invite her unpleasant ass again.
But it cracks me up that some people think they are so far above the rest of creation, so pristine, so different and SPECIAL. Let me tell you, your own body is rife with microbes and parasites. Look up "eyelash mites" sometime.
I had a friend who was one of these "I'm so special" germophobe princesses. We went to the aquarium with her son, where they had a touch tank. She was horrified at the idea that her son wanted to actually TOUCH these filthy creatures, but then she was relieved when she saw a hand-washing station near the wall. She brought her son up to the touch tank, where the woman in charge said, "Before you touch the animals, you have to go wash your hands to prevent spreading any germs you may be carrying to them" and pointed over to the washing station. I laughed like hell.
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