Food decisions

[thunderbox]

If it's your turn to cook, do you check/consider what the other person will like?

I cook most of the time, DH cooks twice a week. The meals he cooks are often lovely, always edible but sometimes recipes that I wouldn't choose.

When I cook, I always think about whether he will like it or not but he gets arsey if he tells me about a recipe he's found and I say I don't fancy it. He says it's his turn to cook and I should be less picky (I am not a picky eater at all, there's just some recipes I look at and think "don't fancy that")

Should I just be grateful he's cooking and not express any preference?

I think a person should always consider other people's likes and dislikes when cooking. However, within that context, a person should be open to trying food they haven't had before, provided it does not contain things they know they don't like. I wouldn't cook DH something with loads of peppers in, for instance, he wouldn't cook me anything with lamb or chilli.
Neither of us have tried okra - I don't really fancy it but would be open to seeing what it's like. Same with fish dishes - I know I like cod and haddock - I don't enjoy salmon but can eat it, I don't like prawns, I have never had scallops or lobster but would be open to trying them.

I don't think he should cook something that he knows you don't like/contains ingredients you don't like.

I think he's right about being a bit less fussy if you just don't 'fancy it'.

I'd say you cook what you fancy (as long as he can eat it). He cooks what he fancies (as long as you can eat it).

Pretty much what others have said.

My DS hates mushrooms so I wouldn't purposely cook something with mushrooms knowing he doesn't like them but if he turned his nose up at something I cooked that he does like just because he didn't fancy it I wouldn't be impressed.

We mostly cook together, but on the occasions we don't we do check in if the other fancies it. Not so much for special ingredients but if we're in the mood for pasta, etc. Some nights I'd turn my nose up to that even if it was beautiful, simply because I'm not a big pasta fan. On the other hand, DH isn't the biggest fan of rice and has to be in the mood. Some nights I want a salad and he wants something heavier, and vice versa, and then we meet in the middle.

We're both very open to new recipes in general though. I don't like fussiness over trying new things, so that would annoy me. If I was making a new recipe with rice and DH said he didn't fancy it, I'd still make it but exchange rice for something else if possible. Same for me with pasta.

There's not really any particular food we hate, but DS hates mushrooms as a pp above says, so we cook him a stuffed pepper if we're having stuffed mushrooms, for example.

We make a plan together for the week to come; that works pretty well for us. We don't stick to it religiously, we're happy to change it according to mood or what's more practical on the day. But he'd never cook something for me if I said I really didn't fancy it, and I wouldn't do that to him either.

Comment above by @GiddyRobin conveys our approach to trying new things or making substitutions pretty well. I cook more often than DH does because he works and I don't. We cook together fairly often too. It helps that our tastes are quite similar and we generally like most foods.

Fair enough! I shall keep my opinions to myself and try whatever is put in front of me with an open mind (and maybe cook more things that I fancy on my days - I like veggie based food more than he does but tend to cook meat most days because I know he prefers it)

I think when a famliy cooks,should consider everyone's perferences.if the cook doesn't take them into consideration,we should exporess our needs directly.

I do 100% of the cooking for my partner and I. I try to vary and be a bit imaginative whilst sticking to healthier options. I would not cook anything which contained ingredients that my partner doesn’t like, for example pork, white or cream sauces, olives, mozzarella.