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Original poster

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

351 replies

user1477282676 · 02/01/2017 09:35

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.

Shock

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?

OP posts:
Original poster
user1477282676 · 02/01/2017 13:04

God you're far too invested Cat. As I said, this is a lighthearted thread. Go and find someone who cares.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 02/01/2017 13:05

What's the weather like OP?

Fuxfurforall · 02/01/2017 13:06

And if you hadn't seen her do it, you would have been none the wiser, and eaten the potatoes anyway.

Original poster
user1477282676 · 02/01/2017 13:10

Sparkling, well it's 11.40pm right now. It's not that hot for this time of year. Which is nice.

OP posts:
CakesRUs · 02/01/2017 13:10

My MIL lets the dogs eat of the plates. She is the best cook I know, but this really puts me off eating at her house. Double dipping is a no-no.

sadie9 · 02/01/2017 13:11

This is a clear example of germs and the 'context' our brains notice. We are 100% fine with some germs but not others. We are all happy to have saliva in our mouths. But if you were asked to spit for 5 mins into a sterile container and then drink it again, most people would refuse. Similarly we wouldn't offer a stranger on the street a bite of our apple, yet if we were single and out at a party and met a nice man, we'd probably happily ram our tongues down his neck and sample plenty of saliva.
We put our hands on a shopping trolley used by 346 people that week and then lick our fingers after eating a pastry on the way out of the shop, and that's okay.
We don't mind our own mothers or partners licking spoons then putting them back into food, but we don't like 'outsiders' doing it, because our brains tell us it's dangerous and the food could be 'poisoned'. If you have issues with the person preparing the food, if you don't like them or are suspicious of them, then you will perceive their germs as 'worse' than someone else's. What peculiar little creatures we are.

Gwenhwyfar · 02/01/2017 13:15

"If I taste food i'm making I get a teaspoon, taste, and the teaspoon goes in the sink. If I need to taste again, fresh teaspoon."

That creates a lot of washing up. How about transferring from the spoon that has been in the pan to another spoon that you can reuse whenever you need to taste then the spoon you're tasting from never goes into the pan.

Re. double dipping, I only heard about it while watching Seinfeld and we didn't eat dip-type food when we were growing up. I offered a friend one of my nachos or chips or something once and he double dipped. I told him he was disgusting, but I'd paid for my food so felt I had to carry on eating it.

SirChenjin · 02/01/2017 13:15

Yes cat, you really must.

perfumedlife · 02/01/2017 13:15

I once went on a cruise with an 'hygienically challenged' friend who seemed to view showers as a weekly chore. Her fake tan stained her long false nails an awful orange shade. Buffet lunches were a no-no for me as she heaped food on to the plate with her fingers and offered me some, cutlery seemed to have been shunned too.

I came home a week later almost a stone lighter. Grim.

Roomba · 02/01/2017 13:17

These threads keep reminding me of the Royle Family Queen of Sheba Episode, when Cheryl empties Nana's 'bag' into the sink. She doesn't take the pots out, just squeezes it down the side, then wipes the ide and her hands with the tea towel which is hanging there (boak!).

My own mother is much much tidier than I am, so I assumed that her home is much more hygienic than mine. Over Christmas though, I've witnessed her do a number of things which lead me to believe that my house may be messier, but I'd rather eat from my kitchen than hers!

She never used to be like this, I'm sure. She's only 65 so her age is no excuse.

SirChenjin · 02/01/2017 13:20

Sadie - do people really lick their fingers after wheeling a shopping trolley round a supermarket? It's either the way I was brought up or it's the result of working for the NHS for eleventy billion years, but I would never do that- it's basic hygiene to wash your hands before eating (or use an alcohol gel at least).

Sparklingbrook · 02/01/2017 13:24

We put our hands on a shopping trolley used by 346 people that week and then lick our fingers after eating a pastry on the way out of the shop, and that's okay

That's why I keep anti bac wipes in my handbag.

FatOldBag · 02/01/2017 13:26

That's a bit grim. Horrified is pretty strong though, I was expecting something like:

She stole a chicken from a poor local farmer, punched it in the face, then deep fat fried it briefly to serve "medium rare" with oven chips from lidl. And we had to watch Coronation street while eating it. No mushy peas. 3/10 would not recommend.

Gwenhwyfar · 02/01/2017 13:34

"it's basic hygiene to wash your hands before eating"

I only did that as a child to be honest. When you're in a restaurant you don't see queues at the toilets with everyone going to wash their hands. You can't wash your hands if you're having a snack in the street...

Also, I've read that alcohol wipes/washes don't really wash your hands, they're just for putting on clean hands. Is that true?

tiej · 02/01/2017 13:38

I saw the pastry chef where I worked spit on the edges of the Danish pastries to stick them down. I reported it to the boss who sighed and said, 'I've told him about that before'.

What really upset me was that I'd eaten a fair few of the said pastries and the chef really wasn't someone you'd want to share spit with.

DailyFail1 · 02/01/2017 13:42

hmcAsWas nobody else objects though. Everybody I know licks the spoon or dips a finger in to test temperature etc. She was the only one. I don't think this is a huge problem in RL prob just MN

Sparklingbrook · 02/01/2017 13:43

The ideal is to wash your hands. If there's a loo available I will go and wash them before I eat. If not the wipes are fine for me.
I don't snack in the street.

hollyisalovelyname · 02/01/2017 13:43

Good post Sadie.
How many of the 'horrified' on this thread might have no qualms having a 'ons' with a complete stranger who might have all kinds of diseases/ parasites etc .
It makes me Smile

Mindtrope · 02/01/2017 13:46

It wouldn't worry me.

I am rarely ill, neither are my family.

We have a 5 second rule in our house. We don't wash our hands before eating. Uneaten food off a plate sometimes gets put back into a communal pot in my kitchen.
No big deal.
If we were getting ill I may review procedures, but it's 18 years since anyone had a tummy bug in my home. ( and I think part of that is because of the occasional challenge to our immune systems)

BattleaxeGalactica · 02/01/2017 13:49

Oh, OP YA so NBU.

MIL had form for this. She used to pick up fresh out of the oven roasties, place them on top of the serving dish to make sure they all fit , lick her fingers then do it all over again. I always made damn sure I had some as few as possible from the bottom of the dish but there was always that element of doubt. She'd do it when she dished the desserts too. Fair turned my stomach. Thankfully we are now NC and I don't have to endure it any more.

On an additional note while I love AI holidays I always take from the back of the serving plate rather than the front which is open to conversational saliva speckles, snotty kids and coughing. On a recent one I saw one guest blatantly eat a croissant over the entire basket dropping spitty crumbs in as he did so Angry. WTF gets into these people?

Jaysis · 02/01/2017 13:58

I believe in boosting immune systems through mixing with other people etc, but this would have me heaving too.

I've worked in kitchens and restaurants for decades and have yet to witness a server or chef do something manky to food. Most of them would have a variant of the same training I have. I regularly wash my hands while preparing food, my hair is always well tied up, when I need to taste I spoon a small amount to a tupperware container to taste with a teaspoon. Cloths don't get used on bins then wiping food dishes. Different knives and chopping boards for cooked /uncooked meats and veg.

It's the basics that you learn in food prep if you are trained properly. A chef would bollock a licker out of it in his /her kitchen, not least because staff dinners usually come from the same kitchen and we want our meals hygienically prepared too.

Do those who give out that a teaspoon in the sink adds to washing up also reuse the raw chicken board and knife for the cooked on - to save washing up that too

SirChenjin · 02/01/2017 14:04

Gwen - if you can wash your hands then great, but alcohol hand gel is better at reducing the spread of infection than not using anything.

Snogging strangers is an interesting one - I guessed it's all about frequency of risk. We probably think that once in a while (back in the day in my case) is fine and we'll take our chance to a point, whereas regular (as in throughout the day) exposure to manky hygiene turns our stomach and will bring about a less than positive reaction (to say the least).

Sparklingbrook · 02/01/2017 14:07

You can choose whether to snog a stranger or have a ONS with someone who may have an STD.

Not really comparable to the circumstances in the OP.

limitedperiodonly · 02/01/2017 14:08

my husband was a professional chef, and said it was common to test if the fryers were hot enough by spitting into the oil, if it sizzled it was ready

Don't know how true this is cherrytree but I've heard that fish and chips are one of the safest takeaways to have in terms of avoiding food poisoning because of the cooking temperature.

My mum also advised me to ask for a freshly cooked one rather than a piece of fish that had been sitting under lights. Not only for hygiene but because it tastes better.

If you're not as demanding as my mum and too shy to insist and you're in the South, always ask for for haddock, because most people eat cod here and they'll probably have to do you a new one.

girlelephant · 02/01/2017 14:09

Gross!

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