Horrified watching my aunt prepare today's lunch...

[user1477282676]

Just checking that I'm not being super sensitive! Was at MIL's today for lunch...Aunt was in charge of potatoes which were to be boiled and covered in garlic, butter and herbs.

Lovely.

Except...not.

I had to watch her as she put the butter etc in and using a selection of utensils, repeatedly lick them after she'd stirred the potatoes...and then plunge them into the potatoes again....good stir....back into the butter dish...more licking...back into the potatoes...then back into the butter...another good lick.

Boak.

She then, coughed into the pot for good measure.

This is a bit lighthearted by the way....she's not in her dotage or anything...60 years old and perfectly together...she knew I was sititng there watching.

I had been looking forward to a nice spud! I had to refuse them and eat meat and salad!

What gets INTO some people?

In a society where people French kiss/ perform oral sex / kiss pets etc etc I cannot get worked up about a bit of double dipping.

We have canapés at work events, say 200 people, ie a room full of strangers. Plates of mini sausages and potato wedges, with mustard mayo and sour cream or sweet chilli dips.

The number of people who dip a sausage or wedge, bite it in half, then dip the bitten end in the sauce again is staggering. After a handful of people, the sauce is full of bitten bits of food and saliva. So so so gross for people to do that!

I taste food because otherwise how do you k ow what you are serving?

I do use a clean spoon every time and never put the dirty spoon back in the food. Makes for a lot of washing up but I've got a dishwasher. 😀

I couldn't eat what someone had licked

Queen you use a different spoon! ONCE! Then stir with your "main spoon"

Liino but I don't French kiss DH's Aunt!

I doubt OP performs oral sex on and french kisses her Aunt

Dame, this is common in professional kitchens then?

I see both sides. On one hand I rationalise and think that in the wider scheme of things it isn't going to do any harm, and that we probably get more germs when we use an ATM or touch a toilet door. Equally though I don't really want to think about it so whilst I'm aware that it happens all the time in a professional kitchen, I don't want to actually see it.

It is fucking disgusting to double dip - grim in the extreme. If you're one of the minging lot who do this stop it now - seriously. My immune system can cope just fine without your various germs - keep them to yourself. If I do see you do this you will regret it.

OP - yanbu. Not one bit.

OP, you posted this at 9.30am this morning, and said you had to eat them for your lunch today. Either you've got your days mixed up, or you're a wind up merchant.

That's gross but I know worse probably happens in restaurant kitchens.
Family members ( not my dc) often dig in to dishes of vegetables with a fork they have put in their mouth. Yuck. Their parents haven't taught them to use the serving spoons.
One particular elderly relative often offers the food left on her plate and lifts it off with her used fork. She lived through poor times and having food made her less 'precious' about germs. All of her siblings lived long healthy lives despite their food hygiene standards not being so high.

My sil for all huffy at mil (her mum) on Christmas day for doing this. Then proceeded to spend the next half hour playing with her dog that was licking her face all over. What some people get worked up over really baffles me.

MyCat engage your brain. I'm in Australia.

Ugh. No way could I eat that. Can't stand double dippers either.

What? People outside of the UK post on MN.

Double dipping is the reason I can't join in with a chocolate fountain or fondue.

A few weeks ago I caught my dh washing the cooked rice for our chilli under the hot tap!!

You'd be horrified in a professional kitchen

Oh god - I realise I'm probably being naive, and I'm sure stuff goes on we'd rather not know about, but please tell me at least professionals wouldn't "lick and dip"?

For someone who's been trained, surely that's just basic - instinctive even??

I have to remind my Mother to wash her hands, and then it's usually just a cursery run under the tap to appease me, when handling food. She has great long nails, and is one of those people that loves poking and pulling at food she is preparing stuff..boak

IT is gross BUT as the potatoes are going back into a very hot oven I'm sure the germs should be killed wouldnt they?

The chefs I've worked with the past 10 years have their one preferred tasting spoon. They all taste and then either rinse under the tap or wipe with a clean kitchen cloth. Every, single, time. However these are high end hospitality chefs; I used to work in restaurants in my late teens and the chefs in those pubs didn't taste the food as they were cooking the same thing every day so the result was always the same.

Maybe take heart from that?

I do dip to have a taste but don't double dip - that's a whole new thread nudge nudge wink wink !

And yes you would be surprised to know what goes on my mother used to work in a well to do village restaurant and was not averse to seeing waitresses on laying tables spit on cutlery and then wipe it to make it shine WTF ! My bro worked in a week known eaterie chain whilst at Uni and let me tell you you would never send your steak back again !!

*well known not week lol

Biscuits no...who said they were going back into the oven? Not me. They'd been cooked. She was just putting the other stuff on them.

YY no more cooking. I assumed they were just being covered in the spit butter and served.

That's actually why I'm not keen on eating out not that I ever get invited out. You don't know if they've washed their hands, if they've got colour coordinated cloths, how many times they've tasted and stirred, sneezed into food. Oh the list goes on. Only ever eat what you prepare yourself to be in the safe side