Not to offer a taste of my plate at a restaurant?

[chardonm]

Interested in hearing people's opinions. Am I a little rude in not offering people a taste of my plate?

I do it with DH, but when there is a group of say 5 people, I don't want 5 peoples' forks into my plate. Conversely I do not want to taste everyone's dish either.

Is this considered rude? Should one always offer?

Also surely you use your own cutlery?

I have never done this and would refuse if asked. I wouldn't care at all if anyone else considered me to be bad mannered for that.

If they wanted the food I was ordering then they should have ordered it.

I wouldn't, but my friends know me well enough to know I'd find that disgusting so wouldn't offer or expect me to offer.

no, it is totally up to you op

Oh god no. My germ phobia would be in full flow! I don't even like DS sticking his fork in my dinner.

We are friends who are a lovely couple but the husband is a bit of a fussy eater. The wife tries to get him to try different things but not in a subtle way..more like brandishing her fork in his face with food on the end of it and practically force feeding the poor guy. She then tries to to give us her food that she doesnt want/leaves.
In a posh restaurant this is quite embarrassing. Especially when she threw a piece of meat across and it went all over the lovely white starched table cloth.

I think it’s hideously bad manners to demand or expect others to share the meal they’ve chosen with you and I wonder how this new fad got started. I agree that with certain cuisines (Indian/Chinese/Pizza) etc it’s more acceptable as portions are generous and dishes are spread out across the table but otherwise it’s very strange.

I’ll never forgot going for a day out in the city with some friends after finishing our GCSE’s. One of our friend’s parents kindly insisted on paying for an expensive lunch for us at a good restaurant. The girl from the wealthiest family picked up the menu and said, “seeing as I’m not paying, I’ll get the most expensive thing on the menu”. When our starters arrived, she asked for an extra side plate and passed it to the friend who was paying who started putting some of his starter on the plate. He then passed it to someone else who did the same thing. I enquires what was going on and he said “oh, we always have to give her some of our food” and she grinned triumphantly and said “that way I get to taste everything “

She did it for every single course and I couldn’t believe how rude she was. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of anything like this since then. YANBU OP, I’d hate to be pressurised into this. I’m also a Coeliac so wouldn’t benefit from sharing.

That’s really horrible. Fortunately I don’t know anyone who does it.

Dh might but only if it was amazing and I offered and chose the amount. Anyone else would get stabbed with my fork if they tried this shit.

Nope. Don't share with anyone including my dp. Unless there's something one of us doesn't like in which case before we start eating we'll sort out a swap. Or at the end if there are leftovers we might finish them up.

Me and my close friends of course we do, but we share bottles, drinks and spend a lot of time in close proximity so any germs we have must be communal as well

Was gonna say that I wouldn't do it with people that weren't good friends but that's a lie, last Christmas work do I went to I was sat next to a girl who'd never eaten lobster and she tried a bit of mine

The more I think about it idgaf who has a go

How do all the germ crew get passed kissing people?

Yuk how disgusting having anothers cutlery/germs in your food. Sod that no way would I partake.

This thread has taught me there are ways of using the word "taste" that make me feel violent.

I've never heard of everyone at the table digging their forks into your plate whilst on a meal, that just sounds weird!
"VERBEENA DOESN'T SHARE FOOD!"

I might stab your hand with my fork haha

There wouldn't be much left if 5-6 folk had a go!

It's good standard practice to offer. See if others die before you actually eat your food.

OTOH, it complicates epidemiological surveys in case of a food poisoning outbreak. So, don't do it.

So difficult to decide!

I do with my family - DH, DS, parents etc - but the way we do it is to cut a bit off of whatever it is and put it on the other persons plate, so only your fork is digging in on your own plate. I don't do it if out with friends, I would find that a bit strange but I can't articulate the difference really.

That's rank 

Isn’t this a class/culture thing?

I was brought up English lower middle class, and no one would have dreamed of offering/asking, least of all in public (vulgar, unhygienic, blah, blah). However as an adult, my international friends (mostly from Western Europe but also Eastern European) will always offer a taste of their food and drinks in a very enthusiastic and warm way. I usually decline as I find it really uncomfortable- I have no idea how to navigate the whole tasting everyone’s food thing, and I find the stress of this new social hurdle ruins the enjoyment of my meal.

So yes, I think it is a thing, but only for some people. And I don’t want to do it

Nope. I do it with family, DH, DD and mum but if anyone else asked I'd probably say no 

Partner only! I hate it when it's a sharing Indian takeaway too. I know what I like - I get one thing and one nan bread and eat the lot! Hands off!

I agree with askme it’s more prevelant amongst my non English friends. Don’t think it’s class related though

No I wouldn't do this and don't find people expect it

Yuck, no. Order what you want. Eat it.