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?

and in an airy manner, said "Sorry, I'm an autocondimentarian."

There's a word for these heathens! Who knew?

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

That's the thing though isn't it?

As long as we all have individual tastes, there is no such thing as perfect food.

They need to put their dummies back in and get over themselves.

Ahhh limited I think that's hit the nail on the head. I possibly get pissed off when my MIL does it as I am not that confident in the food I suppose. She is an excellent cook her only saving grace

Still, its a sad day in the Raygun household when I relate more to Marco Pierre White than anyone else!!!

BTW I would never not allow salt/pepper/ketchup/shit even if I were a Michelin starred chef, but I would possibly have some internal cheffy tantrum. Possibly using French swear words.

YANBU.

My MIL used to do this with every meal I cooked - and she also salted FIL's plate before he had a chance to taste it himself.

I could hardly eat some of the food at her house as it was absolutely gritty with salt.

She was prone to high blood pressure but wouldn't take any advice about salt or high fat foods.

Sadly, despite being a reasonable weight and not being a drinker or smoker, she died quite young - heart attack then strokes.

YANBU. I think doing it with crap food like chips, omelette etc is fine. But an actual cooked meal is different and really rude. I have a friend who pours salt over everything, we went to a dinner party and she did as normal oblivious to the fact that the host had already salted everything and then declared the meal inedible! She made a massive fuss, it was really embarrassing. She also is completely incapable of eating anything with delicate flavours as she covers it in salt and then says she can't taste anything.

It's a bit like taking air freshener everywhere because you like the smell of it and have just decided that every other smell is bad and peoples house will smell better covered in your spray, like their food will taste better covered in salt.

What's rude is attempting to dictate to people how they should eat their food. Some people like salt. You shouldn't try to impose your taste on them. He's not putting extra salt on you food is he - he's allowing you to choose how you enjoy it. You should extend the same courtesy to him.

It's a bit like taking air freshener everywhere because you like the smell of it and have just decided that every other smell is bad and peoples house will smell better covered in your spray, like their food will taste better covered in salt.

And the over thinker of the month award goes to....

NeedABumChange

Well it is- in my mind anyways

I don't put salt on the table unless we are having chips or boiled eggs. If someone tastes my food and wants a bit more salt, then they are perfectly entitled to get it out of the cupboard and add a bit more. Happens very occaisionally.

My Mum comes to visit and pours salt all over stuff like a cheddar sandwich. Then wonders why she needs blood pressure medication.

NancyRaygun Marco Pierre White has the cheek to advertise Knorr stock cubes now.

Knorr: 'Marco, will you push our stock cubes?'
Marco: 'Fuck off, you Philistines. I get up at the crack of dawn to boil up bones.'
Knorr: 'Here's a big cheque.'
Marco: 'Oh, all right, then.'

In a way I admire such shameless hypocrisy

@ Glade salt shaker!

the over thinker of the month award goes to....

But the irony is that the original complaint is that salters underthink - they salt without even considering first what the food tastes like.
Please answer my question: do you put salt on your pudding. And if not, why not?

YANBU. It is considered rude to season food without tasting it first. That's a fact regardless of someones desire or right to add salt. One does not overrule the other.

By salting my food I'm not saying the food is bad, I'm saying I prefer it saltier than most people do. In my world there is no such thing as 'to much salt'. I could sit and eat salt on its own. And drink vinegar. I recognise that most other people do not feel the same way so I cook with v little salt then salt my own plate. So everyone gets things to their own liking. I fail to see how that is rude!

Interestingly, since my eldest has been at University and indulged in a lot more processed crap and take away, I have noticed he has developed more of a taste for extra salt on his food.

And no, I dont salt my trifle. Cos salty trifle doesn't taste nice. Salty roast tastes nice. That easy.

This thread is fascinating though

I honestly had no idea how many people take such an unhealthy interest in other people's eating habits.

That's weird enough but then the people dictating, controlling and grabbing salt from other people...well that's just beyond strange!

Entertaining though

Sooo does anyone get an attack of the vapours when someone adds raspberry sauce or sprinkles to home made ice-cream?

I'm just trying to gauge this on the weird-o-meter.

Chips are crap? I don't think you're doing them properly.

And trainee chefs spend ages perfecting their omelettes fine herbs. Though if I asked for brown sauce I wouldn't expect one to come out the the kitchen brandishing a cleaver.

So sweet things have an intrinsic taste but everything savoury is bland and needs seasoning?

Considered rude by whom? Over controlling ninnies who can't just let people get on with what they prefer to do, is the answer to that rhetorical question.

It really, really shouldn't bother people. Some people like to put salt on their food and sometimes oh my god the horror they haven't even tasted it first.

Yes I find it somewhat rude too. I knew about the term "autocondimentarian" - DH is one. Mostly he does try the food first now, but he does usually end up putting salt on because his taste buds are adjusted to a higher level of salt than mine. Sometimes when he cooks I can barely eat it because it's so salty! Which isn't good for the DSs, as I keep reminding him.

MIL once had a friend come to dinner - she used up about half the salt cellar on her food before she'd even tasted it - we were . But MIL says she always does that, wherever she goes, so another autocondimentarian.

I find it a little rude because it's pretty much telling you that they know your food is going to be bland before they try it, even when it isn't.

I wonder if Katie Hopkins will start tweeting about those who use too much salt and waste NHS money as a result. Salt lovers could join the smokers, drinkers and far people.

Please answer my question: do you put salt on your pudding. And if not, why not?

I did answer your question.

I said "Yeah, on my yorkshire pudding".

I'm not sure why you want people to state the obvious, but salt is generally enjoyed sprinkled over savoury food....