People tricking you with cheaper food

[HuntIdeas]

AIBU to get really annoyed with people substituting cheaper alternatives into food and thinking you can’t tell the difference! No dumbass, we’re just too polite to say “your food is a bit crap today” so instead say “that was lovely, thanks”

I went over to a friends yesterday and she served chilli con carne. After the meal she gleefully told us that it was quorn and lentil, as if we didn’t think we could taste the difference! At which point all we said was “I thought it tasted a bit unusual”. I really should have said “no wonder it was almost inedible” but I’m way too British for that!

Oh dear. How very dare people try to spend anything less than the maximum. Not like anyone needs to save the odd penny or two, is it?
If quorn was cheaper then you would have a point.
I cant eat it, makes me ill.
Also tofu makes me terribly ill, to the point of a and e.

As pp mentioned, carne is meat so i would expect meat. If they said veg chilli well fine.

Nobody is saying using Quorn is wrong or that they would never mention allergies to a host.

People are simply saying that they wouldn't think to mention a Quorn intolerance - which isn't an allergy - when they're going round expecting to eat MEAT. Chilli Con Carne contains meat. So no, it's not unreasonable to not mention an intolerance to a product you aren't expecting to be served.

I'm guessing you're one of those people who hates all vegetarians and vegans, thinking they are hurting you in some way? They aren't. And no I'm not a vegan before anyone assumes.

Saying that, I've had Quorn food before and if you oven cook it, I think it can be just as good as the real thing! And the upside to these are that the expiry date on them are ages away so it can last you for ages but it can be a little bit more pricey. Then again, all ready meals are expensive nowadays not unless you get the supermarket cheap ones.

Tbh you sound like a bit of a snob, just be happy someone cooked for you. I go around my mothers and I'm lucky if I get offered anything to eat and if I do, I eat what's available. If you don't like what's available, bring food with you.

I don’t think the point is really about the allergies (or not) or even trying to save money etc etc. It’s more the fact that it was revealed at the end like some big surprise that you’re not supposed to have cottoned onto before now. My mother used to do it to me and dad- neither of us like fish but she tried every which way to “hide” it in some cunning fashion. It was always sprung on you at the end as some sort of “ta da!!!! Aren’t I clever at making you like something different?!” That’s the bit that’s not on- I quite like veggie chilli, quorn isn’t the work of the devil, but I’d be a bit if someone genuinely thought they were being super duper clever by using it and it hasn’t occurred to them that people might just be polite rather than actually not having noticed!

So weird. It would be like me asking my friends round for chicken curry and then serving them curry with quorn pieces on. if you're making veggie chilli, just say veggie chilli!

If I cook for you, and tell you it's chili con carne, it will be beef with beans, just possibly a lamb version. There will be rice, or baked potatoes, or tacos and salad. Maybe garlic bread. It will have been made from raw ingredients, nothing will have been processed (except the tomatoes, which will have come from a tin. And I will have cooked it long, slow and gentle. I love lentils with lots of dishes, but they are not a substitute for red kidney beans.

My STBXH once went on & on about how disgusting the vegetarian lasagne was at work & how he hated vegetarian food, on & on, blah, blah.

I made a vegetarian lasagne later that week when a friend came for dinner, using finely-grated carrot as the main ingredient in the "meat" sauce.

I told the friend & my then teenage son that it was vegetarian lasagne & please not to mention it to STBXH.

It was delicious - we all tucked in & then STBXH, asking for seconds, announced, "I'm so glad it's not vegetarian lasagne - this is so much nicer than that crap I had at work the other day!"

"Fnerkk!" sniggered the rest of us.

"What? What?"

"It's vegetarian," announced DS.

"I knew that." He didn't. "I was just saying it was nicer than the work one."

I always make quirk chilli and think it's nicer - beef mince is gross and tough. Plus, quirk isn't cheap! It's more expensive than beef mince!
It's not the ingredients, she's either a bad cook or you have no taste. Get with the times man, meat is killing the planet.

Giving someone food that they pretend to be something else is really shitty. Imagine someone being allergic or intolerant of Quorn.... and a lot of people are. And Quorn is not cheaper than meat in terms of weight for weight. I love lentils, but sadly they don't love me and I'd be in agony for the next few hours after eating them.

Time to stop being polite OP, whether they've cooked for you or not!

It's shit food, but it's not cheaper, and that's unlikely to be the reason for the susbtitution.

This. It isn't a cost thing, it's a quorn thing.

I went over to a friends yesterday

Are you quite sure she thinks of you as a friend?

Friends can cook me what they like, they’re paying, its up to them. Granted, I might not like it (recalling a truly bizarre spag Bol with cooked pork medallions minced up and a bit of tomato purée added.)

I have a relative that buys all her food from local butchers, Waitrose, M&S etc.., it all tastes shit because her cooking skills are rubbish 🤣

I’m not a fan of quorn as the texture is horrid but if someone cooked it for me I would force myself to eat it. I’m a strong believer that most food can taste ok if cooked properly. I mainly cook from scratch and I can’t tell the difference between peppers from Waitrose or Lidl ,meat from M&S or Aldi.

If you have dietary issues, then your friend would either already know or you'd be comfortable telling them before they hosted you. Outside of that, just wow. I am so glad that I don't have to have some of you as guests. Do you literally expect your host to show you the ingredient list (and maybe the cost of each bit and where they were bought from?) before serving you? How ungrateful. And rude.

Also, is it not quite normal to experiment with recipes or is there only one way that works and makes it right for you? What you were served was chile. Not con carne, but chile. A friend would say thank you, and eatu up or shut up.

YABU. She's a friend who's cooked for you, not a restaurant. Politely eat what you're given even if you don't like it. If you're allergic to quorn and she knows that, then fine, you would have been tricked. But you're not, by the sounds of it.

Serving quorn to meat eaters is poor hosting IMO.

So weird. It would be like me asking my friends round for chicken curry and then serving them curry with quorn pieces on. if you're making veggie chilli, just say veggie chilli!

Are invitations solely accepted or rejected on the premise that such and such shall be served? I have never heard such a thing. Can just imagine the conversation:

Want to come for dinner Saturday?
Depends. What's for dinner?
Don't know. Have to decide nearer the time.
Oh well, once you decide let me know so that I can decide.

Sheesh. F that for a game of soldiers!

If you are allergic, intolerant or simply sick with certain food, you are an idiot for not warning your host.

If you are fussy, you stay polite and eat what you are given, but if it's a health issue, you warn people.

Quorn makes you ill? So your friend spend ages preparing food, tells you what it is when she is serving you, and you just tell her then that you can't eat it? How rude is that.
Tell her when you accept the invitation! It's not that difficult.

Forcing yourself to eat something you don't like so as not to be rude is so painfully British

Want to come for diner Saturday?

I'd love to, but must warn you, I am intolerant/ allergic to xxx.

If you really have health issues, you would.

2018 well... yeah? Why would i go for dinner to someones house if i dont like what they're making? Granted, myself and most of my friends are from cultures where we're a lot more direct than Brits, and aren't worried about being overly polite.

Forcing yourself to eat something you don't like so as not to be rude is so painfully British

actually it's very basic manners in most countries. In some, it's not even rude it's a real insult to your host to refuse to eat something. In Britain, you are only rude.

I’d prefer it to some dead cow.

Loopytiles that's a ridiculous thing to say. Expecting to be served something ie meat by a friend is poor form from a guest.

I'm a committed carnivore, and though I would never order a veggie option in a restaurant, I happily eat the vegetarian meals cooked by friends - whether it's because they just feel like making a veggie dish, trying to save money or have other guests who are veggie. You can't 'expect' anything when having a meal served by a friend. It's rude.

I don't like being tricked and it has only happened once that I am aware of.

However, with my OH, I have pulled the cheaper option on some things cos "if can't taste the difference, don't pay it". But all swaps were something he was fine with it the first place that wasnt going to make him unwell,

Yes, of course, the tomato sauce is Heinz, not Asda smart price, that pasta is napolina not smart price, the blackcurrant cordial is Ribena of course as I put the cheap bottle out of sight or decant to branded bottle. I use a lot of own brand value range stuff but if when he eats here he had the slightest bit of problem that would change as needed.

He can sometimes be a brand snob at times but I wouldn't change anything major that would make him ill or put either of us at risk.

Although I admit the cheaper stuff is transferred to the branded packaging so he doesnt have a psychological mini shock. He knows it happens but we don't mention it.

He loves a dip to go with tortilla crisps, his mother makes which is basically a mix of fresh tomato salsa, chopped spring onion mixed with mayonnaise. His mum gave me the recipe as she has been making it for him since he was a child, the fact is he doesnt like mayonnaise and will turn down food if it has mayonnaise on it, so she passed her recipe to me, we agreed not to tell him nor are ever planning to tell him, the dip is 75% mayonnaise which he doesnt like. It's a secret recipe.

I like veg very much, but not quorn!