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?

We're talking about a couple of omelettes for breccy here, not a Michelin starred meal. I'd think if a guest can't feel comfortable adding a bit of salt to their breakfast then the hosting is not that gracious either.

Same Worra. I wouldn't go to some pouncy restaurant where I wasn't allowed to eat MY food that I PAID for how I like it in the first place though!

Btw Derek when you eat shit, how much salt and ketchup do you add?

And have you ever upset the shitter/shittee by inferring it wasn't shat out precisely to your liking?

Haha!!,

This strikes me as one of those fundamental dividing lines!!

Dog vs cat
Tea vs Coffee
Mumsnet vs Netmums
Salt vs no salt

You should probably lay off the Michelin starred shit then.

Poncy* I hope there aren't restaurant a where they pounce on you.

The guides to formal etiquette agree that it's impolite to your host and/or the chef to put salt on your food before tasting.

Meals with friends and relatives are less formal, but some of us would still want to avoid behaviour that might irk whoever has gone to the trouble of cooking for us.

Though there's always a substantial brigade who go, 'I know what I want and this is the way I want it and like it I am not going to do anything slightly different for anyone ever, so there!'

senua - I'm not in the habit of adding herbs (except maybe parsley), spices, lemon juice or flavoured oils to things like boiled spuds or carrots. Which do taste a hell of a lot better if cooked in a decent amount of salt. Also, a lot of those things are simply a different flavour, whereas cooking spuds or pasta in salted, rather than unsalted, water, brings out the flavour.

I never used to use much salt and could never understand why my spuds didn't taste of anything. My mum's are always delicious and I have worked out that it's because she pours (to my mind) a hefty amount of salt into the cooking water.

MIL never uses any salt at all and her food is very bland.

You'd all hate me, but I'm sure I'd find your food far too mild and douse it in tobasco before I've tasted it.

BECAUSE I LIKE THE TASTE OF THE THING I'M ADDING!

Doesn't everything end up tasting of salt instead of tasting of food? Do you put salt on pudding, too?

The guides to formal etiquette agree that it's impolite to your host and/or the chef to put salt on your food before tasting

Yeah but sticking your nose into other people's personal eating habits is also impolite.

Simply providing the food they're eating, does not give anyone the right to do this.

It's only a bit of food for christ sake, some people really do get their knickers in a knot about nothing

I didn't realise food seasoning could get me so internet-enraged, as to use capital letters. I am ashamed of myself. Not really. I just love salt and pepper.

Senua adding all the spices in the world won't make it stop tasting bland without at least a little seasoning.

Invisible I like my food spicy as well. If it looks bland I will add chilli/sauce even before tasting.

Doesn't everything end up tasting of salt instead of tasting of food

Lots of people like the taste of salt and are aiming for that!

Its BLOODY BREAKFAST.

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?

Gordon Ramsay was asked about this and he said that if someone asked for ketchup he would send it out. He said they were paying the bill so they could have what they wanted. He wasn't insulted because he knew he was an excellent cook.

Nico Ladenis and Marco Pierre White refused to put salt and pepper on their tables because they considered their cooking was perfect and used to berate customers who asked.

I'm sure their food was perfect but it was all a bit mad and macho and not somewhere I'd want to eat.

invisiblecrown

Doesn't everything end up tasting of salt instead of tasting of food? Do you put salt on pudding, too?

Yeah, yorkshire pudding.

Sorry for shouting, but it stopped me shouting at my child who has just shit on the floor.

Breakfast surely could be the last bastion of personal preference.

Senua adding all the spices in the world won't make it stop tasting bland without at least a little seasoning.

I love vegetables, I don't find them bland. Perhaps all this salt is killing your taste buds?