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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if anyone else finds food mostly uninteresting?

80 replies

JustGettingStarted · 23/12/2018 08:32

I have a few friends and family who think and talk about food a lot. They watch cookery programs, read restaurant reviews, just generally talk about food with great enthusiasm.

I only think about food when I'm hungry. I often find myself very hungry at awkward times because I forgot to eat when it would have been convenient. When I am hungry, I definitely like my food to be tasty. It's not like I dislike food, I just don't care about it when it's not filling an immediate need.

Once I am full, I will stop eating. I leave most restaurant meals unfinished. But not always - depends on my hunger and the portion size.

One friend of mine talks about what she is planning to eat all the time. We text throughout the day and she always says things like "I need to pick up my dry cleaning on the way home and then I'm going to make a fish pie! :)" Literally every day she tells me what she's thinking of making for dinner. When we eat out together she literally scrapes her plate and then finishes my food. I don't really care because I don't want it, but it just looks odd, somehow. I can tell she's compelled to do it - she said that she simply cannot abide letting food go to waste.

My husband loves cookery programs, especially ones about American diners that specialise in something huge and ridiculous. He reads reviews of top restaurants and fantasizes about winning the lottery and where he'd eat. He talks about food in general and can become emotionally distressed if he doesn't enjoy his food.

On the subject of restaurant critics and cookery books - I'm glad there are people in the world who are passionate about food, because that means there are tasty things to eat when I'm hungry. But it does seem weird to me that there are people so into food and dining that they can make a living from it. Some cookbooks rhapsodise to the point of making my eyes roll. I just want to know how to make the roast - a paragraph about the author's visit to Tuscany and the meal they had at their friend's villa is annoying.

Am I the only person who feels this way?

OP posts:
Santasushi · 23/12/2018 08:34

I’m the same. I’ll eat it if it’s in front of me but have no interest.

ecuse · 23/12/2018 08:37

My friend is like this (I categorically am not) - but he has no sense of smell, so food is much less interesting for him.

MaidenMotherCrone · 23/12/2018 08:38

I used to be like your friend but now I cannot say I enjoy food. It’s fuel and I have to eat to live. I enjoyed a couple of sprouts recently as in ‘oh they’re nice’ but it passed pretty quickly.

Original poster
JustGettingStarted · 23/12/2018 08:38

santasushi Do you enjoy the food or are you really indifferent in general? I am interested in the moment - yay for yummy food! - but then don't think about it again until I'm hungry.

OP posts:
Original poster
JustGettingStarted · 23/12/2018 08:39

MaidenMotherCrone what changed?

OP posts:
NancyJoan · 23/12/2018 08:40

People have different passions. For example, I see cars as a means of getting from A to B, would never watch a programme or read an article about them, could never get excited about getting a new one. But I love fashion, enjoy reading articles about designers, trends etc, love window shopping in places I can’t afford, have friends who I talk fashion with.

What is your passion, OP?

Whereisthecoffee · 23/12/2018 08:40

I wish I was like this

mumtomaxwell · 23/12/2018 08:41

No, I’m exactly the same! I can’t get excited about it. I’m very lucky to have enough food to eat when I’m hungry. I enjoy the company of friends and loved ones in a restaurant, but I can’t get excited about the food!

In fact some celebrity chefs - especially Jamie Oliver and Heston Blumenthal for some reason - give me the absolute rage!! I can’t get over how much food Heston B wastes in looking for “new combinations” Angry There are so many people who don’t have enough - how dare he waste so much??

Food is an essential fuel that is all! YANBU OP

PersonaNonGarter · 23/12/2018 08:42

YABU. Food is fascinating.

There’s a thread with people posting pictures of their fridges before Christmas. It’s modern art and I love it!

Oysterbabe · 23/12/2018 08:43

People are interested by different things.

coolwalking · 23/12/2018 08:44

I'm the same - unless it's at a fancy restaurant I'm not fussed.

Some days it's 5pm before I eat. I know that's not very good for you but I honestly can't be bothered.

When I do eat it's a good home cooked meal and I'd rather eat that than shit during the day

Mummadeeze · 23/12/2018 08:45

I think it might depend on your upbringing. My parents are totally obsessed with food. They talk about their next meal all the time and we had a goodie cupboard filled with junk food growing up. Every day out / treat we had was associated with food. It is a learned mindset. I was also obsessed with food until a recent onset of illness which has meant I have had to cut out most foods I like. Now I can’t eat ‘treats’ my interest in food has totally waned. I am more like you now and I thought this would be impossible for me, I really did. It is all psychological and nothing to do with hunger or appetite. I used to obsess about food before when I wasn’t hungry.

Original poster
JustGettingStarted · 23/12/2018 08:45

It's acceptable to be fascinated about food going in, but if you're fascinated by the bodily functions of food going out, you're a weirdo. Hmm

OP posts:
Truckingonandon · 23/12/2018 08:46

I'm obsessed with food and think about it all the time 😁

StateofIndependance · 23/12/2018 08:48

Food can be an acceptable indulgence. Providing an expensive meal for family or spending on free range and artisan products can be seen as morally virtuous in a way that buying a designer handbag isn't.

Likewise going to a good restaurant can be viewed as a cultural activity rather than a ridiculous extravagance.

Original poster
JustGettingStarted · 23/12/2018 08:54

I don't know if I have a passion similar to my friends'/husband's passion for food. I suppose exercise. I exercise 6 days a week and I love visiting gyms - like I literally love visiting new gyms when I travel for work. I could probably write gym reviews similar to restaurant reviews. I am interested in what equipment they have and I can rhapsodise about a gym that is tidy, well-equipped and friendly. I read about fitness and exercise quite a lot. So, I guess that's what I do, rather than food.

OP posts:
Escolar · 23/12/2018 08:57

My DH is like you, OP. Just not that interested in food, and will often forget a meal and then just have cereal or something later on. He finds it really hard to understand why I struggle to lose weight, and says helpful things like "can't you just eat less?".

We're all different. I love my food!

MaidenMotherCrone · 23/12/2018 09:02

Op I’ve tried to pin point what happened and can only think it’s because I used to make everything we ate, no convenience or shop bought food. I had to think about food a lot and after 20+ years I just ran out of steam and was burn out food wise. I just don’t want to think about it anymore.

The80sweregreat · 23/12/2018 09:06

It's just boring. The buying the cooking the eating! I wished I could pop a pill and be done!

youarenotkiddingme · 23/12/2018 09:07

Omg I actually thought I was the only person!

Don't get me wrong I love a good meal and will cook some decent feeds every now and again. But day to day I'm more interested in feeling full, energised and healthy than actually spending ages in a kitchen!

coolwalking · 23/12/2018 09:11

@The80sweregreat agree!!

It's an interesting point made by PP about how you were brought up.

I lived with my grandparents and food was a huge constant. We had morning tea with a rich tea, then breakfast, elevenses, lunch, fly cup (cup of tea and a biscuit around 3 then dinner then supper (more tea and home baking etc). Obviously when I was at school I couldn't partake in all of the courses!

Now I'm older I hate the 'set times' that we have to plan around to eat: I do however enjoy sitting down as a family to eat dinner and we always do this unless we have special plans. Plus most of the time dinner is the only proper meal I have.

Bluelady · 23/12/2018 09:12

My interest in food has definitely diminished. A thread yesterday complaining bitterly about the quality of cake provided by in laws baffled me - don't eat the rubbish cake and have something else, why does the success of Christmas depend on it?

DannyWallace · 23/12/2018 09:14

My husband is like you.
I soooo wish I was! I just love food! I love cooking it too! Trying new recipes, trying as many different foods as possible when I'm travelling! I have around 3000 cookbooks!
Oddly enough I'm not in to cookery tv shows though

sackrifice · 23/12/2018 09:15

I exercise 6 days a week and I love visiting gyms - like I literally love visiting new gyms when I travel for work. I could probably write gym reviews similar to restaurant reviews. I am interested in what equipment they have and I can rhapsodise about a gym that is tidy, well-equipped and friendly. I read about fitness and exercise quite a lot. So, I guess that's what I do, rather than food

See this bores the tits off me. A tidy gym? Who the fuck cares?

fessmess · 23/12/2018 09:15

I wish I was like you OP. Thankfully I am slim but I think about food all the time. For me it's because I had body dismorphia as a teen and started to diet. Also, if I get hungry I feel anxious and tearful so snack all the time. That I put down to having four hourly feeds as a baby. It's only since having babies of my own have I realised how long that is. Mine would rarely go longer than 2 until they were about 7-8 months.