to think putting salt on your food before you taste it is rude?

[KirjavaTheCat]

FIL comes to stay every couple of months and this is a habit of his. I cook, I place the meal in front of everyone at the table and before we've all picked up our knives and forks he's shaking salt onto his food.

He hasn't tasted it, he doesn't know if the seasoning is to his taste or not, he just goes ahead and does it.

On Saturday I made everyone cheese and pepperoni omelettes for breakfast. As he went to pick up the salt I stopped him and said, 'you should try it first, pepperoni tends to be quite salty' so he tried it, and lo and behold he didn't want any.

He's wasted food before, declaring he couldn't eat anymore because it was a bit salty. After he'd shaken a load on before tasting it

AIBU to find this really rude?

I don't know about rude but it's definitely stupid. YANBU to be annoyed.

It probably is rude, but I do this too

YABU

it really annoys me how people like to dictate what I do with my own meal. I like the taste of salt, food is never salty enough for me so I always will put more on.

People act like it's offensive to them, it's nothing to do with your cooking just personal preference when it comes to seasonings.

The clue is in your first sentence. It's just a habit. He's unlikely to change now. Let it be.

It's foolish. Clearly he has a limited palate and likes the taste of salt. Leave him to it he will end up in an early grave unless he has low BP and thinks it's worth it.

I don't think it's rude. It's a habit.

I can't believe you stopped an adult from putting salt on their food. How rude!

YANBU. It is very rude.

Dh does this everyday and the dc copy him its very annoying. He covered mine in salt the other day thinking it was one of the dcs plates and it was so salty it was inedible

Hmm, I think it's more stupid than rude - why would you risk ruining your food?

And consider the alternative - he tastes then adds salt. Isn't that a more direct insult to your cooking? At least this way, he can claim ignorance.

YANBU, but it seems to be quite a common thing. I think it's maybe a generational thing, my parents would often season before tasting. I picked the habit up, from them, I suppose, but now always taste before seasoning.

DD2 does this, but she needs industrial quantities of salt due to a medical condition, so unless you can actually see salt crystals glistening on the food, she knows there won't be enough salt .

For anyone else though, it's rude.

FFS, its not rude. I like salty eggs, so I put salt on them.

I can understand on things like chips, chips are revolting without salt. You definitely need to pre-empt the blandness.

But what do you do if the food turns out to have been perfectly seasoned for you and you've made it too salty?

I didn't grab it out of his hand

Just spoke up before he did it.

That's why it's foolish rather than rude, they eat a too salty meal or go hungry.

my mother does this with pepper

last time she stayed her soup looked like she had scraped burnt toast over it....only it was quite a hot pepper on a spicy soup. She spent all afternoon blowing her nose. I laughed to myself.

it's rude to season without tasting first.

YANBU. PIL do this with every meal I give them. TBF I don't really like salt so I never add any when cooking but often use stock in dishes which is very salty. I've noticed they do it with their own food too where salt has already been added during cooking so I think it's habit and everything without it must taste very bland to them. It's not healthy though.

I don't think YABU, but I must admit I do the same when it's food I haven't cooked myself.

I'm an extra salter.

I also salt rice and pasta as a matter of course, regardless of whether or not the sauce needs seasoning.

I'm very particular about my salting habits.

YABU.

Why do you take such offensive over something so ridiculously petty?

Adding salt is just habit. It's not a healthy habit, but I'd be pretty annoyed if someone was dictating how I seasoned my meal.

Salt's there for you if the seasoning's not to your taste, I wouldn't be annoyed if someone added salt after tasting it.

No it's not rude.

Some people like salt on food, which is different to salt that's been added during cooking.

YANBU. I know you're right because this is something my mother always used to say and she was always right about that sort of thing.

It may be a habit but it's a pretty stupid one if he actually ends up not being able to eat his food.

However, it's also a bit rude to question a guest's decision so try not to get wound up about it. Mildly tell him if you know something is already likely to be salty like the pepperoni and then try to let it go.