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?

Yes Sunny! I know someone who carries a keyring sachet of Thai spicy sauce and puts it on everything. I don't find that rude.

This is obviously an issue that is the very definition of unreasonable: I just want people to put a little salt or pepper (or sauce that I deem complimentary to the meal) on their plates.

I accept this will only happen once I become Queen.

This is a very revealing thread. There are some very bizarre people out there.

Yanbu in that yes it's rude to salt before tasting. Not rude to taste and add to choice.

However it is even ruder to serve someone a meal and dictate how they eat it! He's an idiot for adding salt without trying it and he's obviously done it before and not learned his lesson. It's not your job to teach him! If he wants to be an idiot it's up to him. As host you grin and bear it- anything else is rude

I enjoy food only when it's spicy. So I add sauce if it just looks bland.

YABVU.
Salt, pepper, sauces that what its for to put on food!

Salt and sugar are used to give inexpensive 'flavour' to cheap processed food.

Both have health risks associated with them.

I think older generations tended to eat relatively bland food, when they did home cooking. They wouldn't have access to many fresh herbs. (A gritty jar of dried mixed herbs.) They probably wouldn't use spices. Vegetables would be boiled. Meat might be well-cooked. Bland, soft food would also be palatable for people who had bad teeth.

So sugar would go in tea and salt over anything savoury to give food a bit more oomph.

Freshly prepared food tends now to have more variety and flavour - and the cook will have seasoned as s/he goes.

Obviously people might want to adjust salt in accordance with personal preference. But it would be daft to shake salt over, say, halloumi kebabs without having tasted them first.

Sounds a very odd thing to be worked up about. Who cares? He likes salt, probably grew up in a house where people did this and so he's done it all his life. So what. Its a habit, he means nothing by it at all and therefore he isn't rude. Not particularly in tune with the in vogue eating habits and health whatnot, but not rude.

Is it just on MN that so many people spend so much time bothered (and even insulted!) that they can't control other people's habits ?

Adding salt at the table doesn't annoy me. It's adding it before tasting that I think is strange because how do you know if it needs more seasoning if you haven't tasted it? PIL do it with every meal, regardless of who has cooked it.

I ordered steak with bearnaise and asked for some ketchup to have with my chips. The waiter brought it without a word but the chef came out and told me off.

I was . The manager told him to get back in the kitchen and apologised. I was more amused than upset.

Strangely enough he doesn't work there any more.

The food I grew up on always needed salt. So it would be perfectly rational to put salt on it before tasting. (This was food as cooked by my mother, my friends mothers, my schools, and every restaurant I ever ate in. So nothing to do with the competence of the cooks, more a feature of the type of food and my personal preferences.)

The type of cooking I eat now often doesn't need it. So I no longer routinely add it.

The cooks who think putting salt on their food ruins it are almost certainly wrong. I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times in my life food has been too salty. Apart from things that are intrinsically salty (gammon steak) I can recall a tuna pizza at a non-chain restaurant that was very salty. (Not that I would put salt on a pizza anyway.)

OK I will tell you what I found really rude, see what you think.
If I ever cooked for my brother, he would look at the food, say for example, oh you have beef and no horseradish, I will go and get some from the shop for you!
He would then disappear leaving us sitting in front of our plates being all polite u know, then come back with said item with an irritating air of largesse. Then we could eat.
That is rude right?

Is it just on MN that so many people spend so much time bothered (and even insulted!) that they can't control other people's habits?

Thankfully yes!

If they season before least you lot can feel indication that they possibly ruined a perfectly seasoned dish

If they season afterwards then you'll have to realise you've failed.

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

I have to agree that was stupid.

Yes that's very rude Sunny

But I have to say, more fool you for sitting staring at your food and waiting for him to return.

if you never use salt in cooking then your food (especially your veg) must be really bland

Never heard of herbs, spices, lemon juice, flavoured oils, etc, etc? Also my veg aren't bland because I don't overcook them, hence they retain their flavour.

I salt my food because I know no one salts enough for my taste. If that makes me rude, then I'm rude. I think it's ruder to dictate what other people do.

"more fool you for sitting staring at your food and waiting for him to return."
well true dat, but u know we were taught that that was polite!! haha.

It would be bland to a salt lover senua. No matter what else you add, if you don't include salt it will be bland to their taste buds.

Woah Sunny you had beef but no HORSERADISH?

Now that's rude!

OK for me: you wouldn't go to a Michelin starred restaurant for a posh meal and request ketchup or douse it in salt without tasting would you? So, the reason that stops you there is the same one that should stop you in other people's homes. Its respect for the meal they have cooked for you.

I really couldn't care less if people put salt and pepper on their food before tasting it, but I was once on a first date with a man who did this. He put the salt down and in an airy manner, said "Sorry, I'm an autocondimentarian."

There wasn't a second date.

I like to be polite Sunny but I draw the line right there

In fact my brother would have got a clip round the ear

I am completely with EatShitDerek

Badgers That would have made me laugh so much I'd have arranged a second date on the spot!

OK for me: you wouldn't go to a Michelin starred restaurant for a posh meal and request ketchup or douse it in salt without tasting would you? So, the reason that stops you there is the same one that should stop you in other people's homes. Its respect for the meal they have cooked for you.

Yes of course I would, why on earth do you think I wouldn't?

What do Michelin stars have to do with liking/not liking salt on food?