Unseasoned food

No, still don’t get it. You are grateful they pick the ingredients and cook for you but you don’t notice whether its any good? Do they know that? Because it seems a little insulting - why not just order a takeaway and save them the expense and time 🤣

You’d hate to eat at my house, I never use salt or pepper. I stopped eating salt before I was 10 because I didn’t like the taste. However, I have ARFID and can’t eat strong flavours - bland is best. That’s not to say I can’t taste the flavour of food though.

See, I don’t get that.

So they have spent ages preparing the food and you don’t even notice?

And you would eat something that tastes crap because enjoying it isn’t important and you are enjoying the ambience?

Seems fairly pointless going for a meal in that situation but maybe that’s just me 😀

Actually that would be better as chilli con carne is rank. (Although so is mince and tomato sauce). If someone is going to serve up something like that then I don’t imagine a bit of salt either way would make a difference.

But that’s what I’m curious about - with so many variations of herbs and spices that people use, who is to say what is ‘right’? What is ideal for one person is not for someone else and if you are cooking for someone, presumably you want them to enjoy it.

Then why wouldn't you serve minced beef and onions in tomato sauce and let people put in their own chilli, coriander, cumin and herbs and call it a chilli con carne?
Cooking is chemical reactions. Salt does more than just change the taste in things.

You’re quite right. It’s more how can she know it will be to her taste if she hasn’t gauged the base level of saltiness.

for example we will both order something with chips. I will taste one and decide if they need salt and often they are already plenty salty. She will just salt with abandon and then taste it and I can’t help but feel you could really ruin a plate of food that way as you can’t tremor the salt after.

I rarely add salt and pepper after cooking, it would be added during the cooking process. But maybe it depends on whether you heat food up (from a jar/frozen etc) or make sauces from scratch.

Reminds me of Goodness Gracious Me: “Going for an English”

“Bring me the blandest thing on the menu!”

I am very much in the salt to taste after cooking camp. Only add salt to pasta water for cooking, since that does make a difference, but it leeches out the vitamins in fresh veg (which I mainly steam as much as poss), use lots of fresh herbs, lemon juice etc. Happily season once served, sea salt and black pepper on the table, hot sauce too - but in a restaurant always taste first. Lots of my friends happily slather on the salt before ! Some places serve dishes so oversalted I can't eat them. Stopping smoking many moons ago definitely helped recover my palate, I very much oversalted when I was on the cigs. It was a revelation !

Is she ruining the meal if that’s the way she prefers it?

I put salt and pepper on most things and like well seasoned food.

This has made me think of my MiL though, I've been doing her shopping since covid and she's never once asked for salt and pepper and a small pack of oxo cubes appears to last months.

I think the world of her but her food is awful. 😅

That is sad to be served such bland food. If people are eating with me I do put the salt and pepper on the table even though I’m fairly confident I’ve seasoned it plenty.

I do get annoyed with my mother who chucks salt on her food in abundance before even tasting it. What a way to ruin a good meal. She loves her food extra salty.

What annoys me is the assumption that other people’s preferences are wrong, like the poster who could cry for the way someone cooks their own chicken. I don’t add a lot of salt to my food (although I did to my egg mayo I had for lunch). I’d offer salt and pepper and wouldn’t be offended if I forgot and someone asked. Some people like salty food, some people prefer it without. All is fine- just because you personally have a preference doesn’t make that the right choice.

We never use salt in cooking ( except scrambled eggs for some reason) and don’t find our food dull in fact, when food has been salted, the only flavour I can taste is salt. We often get Charlie Bigham’s fish pie for an easy treat and I find that is a bit on the salty side for me. Salt is also contra indicated for my high blood pressure.

But if you marinade salmon in soy sauce, for example, you would be adding salt, same for fish sauce, shrimp paste, siracha and just about every other condiment used in marinades.

My MIL cooks really bland unseasoned food, always had. Think a kind of mince bolognese type sauce but with just mince and onions, no seasoning, no garlic. Bloody horrible and tasteless.

Once I was in the supermarket with her and I asked her to get me a clove of garlic and she didn't know what it looked like. I was 😳at her.

My DM is the absolute opposite, a brilliant cook, very competent. I'm glad I've always eaten her cuisine and not the boiled cabbage of my MIL! 😳😅

I’ve noticed a lot of restaurants don’t have salt and pepper on the table anymore - I feel like I have to ask for it more than I used to. I am a salt super fan.

But seasoning isn't just about salt. I don't put salt in vegetable water either, but I use plenty of herbs and spices in my cooking.

How do you know when it tastes ‘right’? Do people not find different tastes ‘right’? I am not being goady but presumably you mean it tastes like you feel it should? I’m always curious when watching cooking shows about things like that! 😀

I love hosting, and when I do I make sure that I am catering to the guests' likes.

I cook a lot of Indian food as we and all of our friends like it. I can assure you that my food is not bland.