To want to eat what i want without commentz?

[malificent7]

Why do people think that its ok to comment on what your eating in the staffroom.
I was eating a tuna salad and someone asked me if i was eating dog food. How rude! Will eat in the car from now on. Fed up with everyone commenting at each others lunch. Back off!

@EssexLioness

I hate it when people comment all the time on what other people are eating. However, I voted YABU in this case. It is very rude and inconsiderate to eat smelly foods at work. Tuna and egg are the main culprits. Most people don’t like the smell of these foods but some would find it particularly unpleasant eg pregnant, vegetarian/ vegan, those with sensitive noses. I am autistic and vegan with an extremely sensitive nose. That tuna you had for work would make me feel very sick and possibly give me a migraine. I also wouldn’t be able to eat my own lunch because of the nausea

But the same could be said of any food for a particular person. Personally the smell of very ripe bananas makes me feel ill. I have banned my mum from eating them in my car! However if someone had one at work I just accept that's my issue and move away. I'm pregnant currently and at the beginning the smell of chicken cooking/being heated would cause me to vomit but again my issue. How is someone supposed to predict what everyone else in the room doesn't like the smell of?! I have never found tuna or eggs smelly

@Onehotmess I don’t expect people to eat plain food. I was just agreeing with others who said the Op was rude, whilst explaining how her choices may affect other people. I would not be rude enough to say something to someone in this instance, but the Op posted for opinions. Personally I consider other people’s comfort in my decisions, and assumed others do too therefore I was offering examples of how other people may find her food choices difficult.
I never suggested the world revolves around me. However, I assumed most people considered other peoples disabilities and medical needs where possible. Obviously I was wrong 🤷‍♀️

@Cuwins yes good point. T seems like many people on this thread find tuna and egg to be particularly problematic and I assumed this was a common view. I do hate the smell of other foods too but am aware that is specific to me, bit like you and bananas

[quote EssexLioness]@Cuwins yes good point. T seems like many people on this thread find tuna and egg to be particularly problematic and I assumed this was a common view. I do hate the smell of other foods too but am aware that is specific to me, bit like you and bananas[/quote]
While I know egg is a common view I had never thought of tinned cold tuna as being smelly personally- wouldn't even have occurred to me.

I don’t think anyone should be eating fish in a workplace. It’s disgusting.

I think you're both BU. They shouldn't be commenting on your food but I also quietly hated when people brought overly smelly food into the staff room.

I don’t think eating tinned tuna is a faux pas it’s a normal lunch food and not particularly smelly.

[quote EssexLioness]@Onehotmess I don’t expect people to eat plain food. I was just agreeing with others who said the Op was rude, whilst explaining how her choices may affect other people. I would not be rude enough to say something to someone in this instance, but the Op posted for opinions. Personally I consider other people’s comfort in my decisions, and assumed others do too therefore I was offering examples of how other people may find her food choices difficult.
I never suggested the world revolves around me. However, I assumed most people considered other peoples disabilities and medical needs where possible. Obviously I was wrong 🤷‍♀️[/quote]
OK, so what if the fact that you are eating at all causes somebody around you to feel distress? Perhaps because of Misophonia or an Eating Disorder? Do you stop eating during the day because their need to be in the lunch area without being troubled by somebody eating outweighs your right and need to eat during the day?

You've already made it clear that my need to eat food that is suitable for my medical conditions (as I said upthread) is overruled by your dislike of those foods. As it is, due to another disability, I have a medical need to eat regularly and to have particular types of foods in order to avoid passing out - I've done it before at work when I've left it too late. Are you really considering my medical needs when you specify some of the few foods I can eat make me rude and inconsiderate as far as you are concerned? Or are you taking it from the point of view that only you have disabilities and medical needs in this situation?

The best option in my view is to make food something that is nothing to do with anybody else. If I don't like the smell or sound of something, I'm not the one eating it so I either put up and shut up or go elsewhere saltfish is the one that really got me and in turn, I expect people who have an issue with what I eat to do the same, rather than start a game of disability Top Trumps.

I find food comments rude usually but this was a very pointed 'that smells'.

Curtesy extends both ways, to eat something pungent in a communal room is very rude. There are all sorts of foods you can eat to maintain your weight loss that don't smell.

The dog food comment was inappropriate though, he could have been more polite.

@malificent7

I think i will eat in the car. I eat fish as its healthy and helps maintain my weight but i get that everyone else finds it smelly. I have noted though that even when people bring in something innocuous like soup or sandwich people start a discussion about it. WHY?!

Why not? It's just food - everyone eats it so it's something lots of people like to talk about 🤷‍♀️

The weather is something else we all have in common, and people like to talk about that too.

I really don't get all this 'You must never comment on someone's food angst'. It's really only something I've ever seen on Mumsnet.

Having said that, the 'dog food' comment was rude because that was a criticism.

I don't think tuna not heated smells, or boiled eggs. I've sat with colleagues eating all manner of stuff and the only offensive smells have come from smoked fish heated in the work's microwave 😡

@NeverDropYourMooncup

Not fish Not stinky meat Not hard boiled eggs anything particularly crunchy or slurpy

What am I allowed to eat with plain boiled rice, then? I can't have gluten. I can't have oats. I can't have dairy. I can't have high carb/sugar. Am I just supposed to continue existing on the shitty protein shakes that already make up over 66% of my diet because of my medical issues?

I don't know, is there literally nothing you can eat that doesn't stink? If you genuinely need to eat stinky food in the office then crack on I guess but it's still antisocial

@Chocolatefreak

Wow, people think tuna is stinky? No it's not, especially not if it's just a cold salad. Some very oversensitive people here. It's not as if OP is doing something antisocial and unhealthy, like smoking in a shared space.

Delicious, healthy, tasty food has spices and aromatics in it. Eggs and tuna are perfectly acceptable.

What are the alternative places to eat? If there are no other places to eat in your workspace than the office then your colleagues are being completely unreasonable.

Tuna absolutely reeks. It stinks like rancid cat food.

@Dixiechickonhols

I don’t think eating tinned tuna is a faux pas it’s a normal lunch food and not particularly smelly.

Chiming in to every person who claims tuna isn't smelly. I guess that's because you find it appetising it stinks to high heaven. It's vile.

@Funkyslippers

I don't think tuna not heated smells, or boiled eggs. I've sat with colleagues eating all manner of stuff and the only offensive smells have come from smoked fish heated in the work's microwave 😡

They both reek but Tuna is the worst

@ForbiddentoForbid

People should be banned from cooking eggs in staff room microwaves too.

I used to work with a bloke who every day without fail made half a dozen eggs for breakfast at about 10am and then half a salmon at 2pm for lunch. Usually with something like sweet chilli or garlic seasoning.

It was such as shame when covid hit and he had to WFH

My god we sell 3 different types of a tuna sandwich in our meal deal offer at work . It's hardly smoked kippers .

I dare not bring in my protein shakes...can you imagine the debate that would cause?!

I don't know, is there literally nothing you can eat that doesn't stink?

I'm open to suggestions. They need to be gluten free, oat free, dairy free and low carb/sugar, though. And other posters have said they need to be quiet, not crunchy or slurpy. Higher in protein is good because of medical stuff. Relatively nutritious would be nice.

I'm not taking the piss out of you.

I'm sick to the back teeth of protein shakes because there's bugger all I can eat easily that doesn't fall foul of other people's rules. I know a cheese sandwich made with Warburton's is probably silent and not too smelly as long as it isn't stored in Tupperware (an ex used to keep his in such a tub and that smell really did make me heave), but it covers two of the food groups I can't eat.

I can eat

Rice, whether shortgrain, long grain, black, red, wholegrain or wild (I know it smells because I like the scent)
Glass/Rice Noodles (slurpy & smelly depending upon dressing)
100% Buckwheat Noodles (slurpy & smelly depending upon dressing)
Quinoa (even if it tastes a bit meh - add lots of stinky lemon juice and olive oil with chopped parsley and cucumber and it's palatable/noisy, though)
Meat. (smelly)
Poultry. (smelly)
Fish. (smelly)
Seafood. (smelly)
Eggs.(smelly)
Miso. (smelly and slurpy)
Kimchi. (smelly)
Seaweed. (smelly and slurpy because it's in Miso)
Tofu. (slurpy - don't do the fried versions that smell)
Vegetables. (crunchy, slurpy, smelly)
Herbs. (smelly)
Potatoes. (smelly)
Sweet potatoes. (smelly)
Nuts and seeds. (crunchy)
Plantain. (crunchy and smelly)
GF crisps. (crunchy and smelly)
GF pretzels. (crunchy)
Fruit. (crunchy and smelly)
Soya products. (crunchy, slurpy and smelly depending upon type)
Some GF snack bars. (crunchy)
Beans (smelly)
Pulses (smelly)

It wouldn't appear to be that limited until you take into consideration posters' declarations upon how disgusting all of those things are. But it does cut out the majority of highly processed foods that I think might be the things poster expect to be eaten in the workplace, like white bread cheese and mayonnaise sandwiches, biscuits and cakes - which also in turn may go some way in accounting for how I have lost 25 kilograms since formal diagnosis last June.

I'm never convinced by the shitty protein shakes I have to carry around in case of lack of dietary options as

a) they're higher in sugar than is ideal,

b) they're ultra processed

c) I suspect they have a smell, too and

d) they taste like crap and do nothing to encourage a healthy attitude towards food.

If there are completely non smelly foods that fit within the GF/DF/low carb remit that you would permit me to partake of in a communal dining area, please do let me know.

@NeverDropYourMooncup loads of the foods on that list you have put as smelly are not smelly. I mean, all food smells, but some is offensive and some not.

If I’m eating smelly food I go to the big staff canteen as I am concious it smells! Eggs, tuna or curry!

@NeverDropYourMooncup I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure the people that complain about these smells are able to cope with them when they go to a cafe or restaurant.
No different to a works canteen.

[quote NynaeveSedai]@NeverDropYourMooncup loads of the foods on that list you have put as smelly are not smelly. I mean, all food smells, but some is offensive and some not.[/quote]
Which ones? It's a genuine question - I am also taking into account the noise they may make whilst being eaten, as that's also a huge issue for posters on this sort of thread.

Believe me, after the first half of my life eating a standard Western Diet, the options feel pretty limited when I've also got to take into account the feelings of other people who can in all probability eat anything they damn well please if they choose to do so.

How is fruit smelly or vegetables slurpy

@SilverHairedCat

Fish should be banned in a workplace IMO. A colleague used to cook fish in the microwave at lunch. Selfish bastard. It stank the building out and the microwave made everything taste fishy.

This !

You are being very unreasonable eating tuna