to feel like throwing up whenever I have to eat other people's home cooked food

[gettngbetter]

A lady in work baked a cake the other day and brought it in to share around. I accepted a slice as not to seem rude and said I'd have it later with my lunch as I'd just eaten. Then when no one was looking I wrapped it in a napkin and threw it in the bin.

I don't know why exactly but eating something that someone baked at home makes me feel ill. How do I know how hygienic they are? I'm not overly obsessed with hygiene or germs but i dont like the thought of someone I dont know very well touching the food with their hands.

If I'm in a restaurant I have no problem eating anything - even though if I think about it rationally the chef there could be very unhygienic! I've read horror stories about restaurants having to be shut down because they were endangering people's health.

Sometimes I'm in a situation where I feel obliged to accept and eat something - and there's no way of disposing of it - I try to gulp it down as quickly as possible.

I admit it's a bit weird to feel like this - Does anyone have the same issues. Or does anyone else have similar weird phobias? My friend is totally freaked out by cotton wool (I find that weird!)

[VodkaJelly]

Treague2, this isnt about catching germs this is about irrational fear, the clue is in the title - irrational.

DP hates the feel of wet wood, I dont mind it and think its funny, but I understand he cant help how he feels

[Nospringchickendipper]

gettingbetter I am like you sometimes I don't want to eat something that friends have cooked at home but ok eating in a resturant

I used to hate it when my children did cooking at school and brought it home for me to try
I think it is the smell of the food that has been cooked and brought home in containers.

[PeriodMath]

Oh god, a cake stall! The horror. And yes, yes to children's birthday cakes that have been spat on!

My main thing with cake is that most people cannot bake nearly as well as they think they can. They enjoy the process without caring too much about the outcome. So they want to bake their child's birthday cake because it feels like the right thing to do - when really everyone knows Waitrose will do a much better job

[EstelleGetty]

YANBU - I used to feel like you, and felt very guilty about it. It's so daft, but I was always a bit nauseated by the thought of food that tasted of someone else's fridge. Mainly because my parents' fridge was often full of herbs and they would make other things in the fridge taste funny! It's nothing to do with hygiene - just taste. Doesn't really bother me anymore, but I get the occasional niggling feeling. Stuff that's fresh out the oven is fine, but if it's been in a Tupperware for a few hours, I do feel a bit funny. That's awful, I know.

I HATE touching cotton wool too. Or dry towels rubbing together - like when you pull the belt tight on a towelling dressing gown. Sets my teeth on edge!

[Treague2]

There is no 'irrational' in the title and the OP doesn't think she's overly obsessed.

[DragonsAreReal]

All depends really, some peoples cakes I will eat and others I wouldn't. I do eat food from other peoples houses but only if I know the person well and can plate my own plate up. I have just got how weird that is. My cakes are of course amazing and no one can say no to a piece

[Treague2]

Oh I'm sad now, there are some really nice things that you lot are missing out on.
Pot luck picnics for one! Unless you happen to know some particularly minging people?

[specialsubject]

regardless of the fear, please don't waste food. It is not rude to say 'no thank you, I've just had lunch' and that way good food doesn't end up in the bin.


every time you eat in a restaurant the food has been touched many times. The fancier and fussier the dish, the more it has been arranged. They should be conforming to food hygiene standards of course.

[MrsBri]

I've never even considered there to be a hazard before now, so I suppose YABU. I also love cake. :-)

But on the other hand I can't stand touching foam or terracotta. Urgh.

[FondantNancy]

"YABU to be more worried about your friends cooking than eating in a restaurant."

This. I used to work in a reputable restaurant. The stuff I saw would put you off restaurants for life. The two pot washers playing catch with a steak just before it went on the plate is one of the more repeatable stories I could tell you.

[diddl]

this is how we do bday candles in Germany.

No spit on cake!

[xuntitledx]

I'm the same and the thing is with me is that I bake often and bring things into work for my colleagues however I know my hygiene standards and am a bit of a clean fiend.

There's another avid baker that I work with and I once saw a picture that she had posted on Facebook which showed the state of her oven and I honestly gagged...so that didn't help the fear!

[Goldenhandshake]

themaltesefalcon I am with you on the towel biting thing, I heave just thinking about it. Yuck!

[ilovemulberry]

I'm worse with foods, my family have chickens but I can't bring myself to eat the eggs!! I have an issue with eating food grown in peoples gardens too!!! I know, I'm mad!

[FayeKorgasm]

OP I'm the same, but I don't like cake anyway, so I use that as an excuse.

I cant do buffets/salad bars and the like either.

I'm not odd honestly.

[SPBisResisting]

You lot must be great fun at dinner parties :o

[PocketFluff]

There was something on the radio a while back about a lad whose family had a birthday potato. They stuck candles in the potato, blew them out and then ate the unspat on cake.

It wasn't until he was older that he realised this wasn't the norm!

[Amrapaali]

Aaah! I am in heaven. I keep finding kindred spirits on MN for much of my silliness. This thread is brilliant!

And oh YANBU. I hate other people food. Cooked and served right then, I can just about eat. But wrapped in foil or spooned into Tupperware containers, yuck no!

Very irrational, but there you go....

[Lweji]

YABU, of course.

But as phobias go, it's not that bad, and it doesn't harm other people, so your problem.

[catsmother]

Wow - I'm really surprised so many people are freaked by this. Obviously - if someone looks rather grubby and/or their food containers look none too clean, it's understandable to feel a bit "urrgghh" and make your excuses but surely most people who've gone to the bother of making a homemade dish for others to enjoy have been generous both in terms of their time and money, and if they have a generous caring kind of nature it's unlikely that they'd then be slapdash about hygiene. Maybe I've just been lucky to come across decent bakers at work etc but the vast majority of homemade cake tastes much better than most shop bought stuff and my own cakes certainly are!.

[Amrapaali]

An acquaintance bakes such lovely cakes and the decorations are out of this world. After much hesitation and clamping down my natural gag reflex, I bit into a slice and it tasted eggy...!

Just goes to show I am not that irrational after all...

[haggisaggis]

My dh is like this - he puts it down been dragged round random relatives houses as a child and expected to eat whatever he was given no matter the state of the house. He does et my mother's cooking though - but would not eat anything from a cake stall. And ds does not even bother to offer us any of his school made delights. (mind you - he usually won't eat them either!)

[LurcioLovesFrankie]

YA all DNBU - simply because it means more yummy home made cake for me on office birthdays. (Though given the cake consumption of my colleagues, I think it's safe to say none of you works here).

[MrsNoodleHead]

I'm not overly obsessed with hygiene or germs

Yes you are!

[Fairylea]

I'm the same. And I would struggle to eat anything someone else cooked for me, even dinner, without feeling a bit queasy wondering if they had washed their hands, washed everything properly etc.

But I think some of that comes from being a restaurant manager for half my life. I've seen some awful things and many people, even those who work in kitchens, seem to have completely different ideas about what is acceptable hygiene wise!

I've never been able to relax since. My dh laughs at me about it.