AIBU to be annoyed he thinks my food is disgusting?

[WontEatMyFood]

Would you be offended if someone consistently didn't like your food?

For context, we have a 15 year old Spanish boy staying with us and each night pretty much his whole dinner goes in the bin. He also doesn't appear to eat any vegetables as he'll always pointedly pick them out and push them to the side of his plate.

He's with us three months now and it's actually making me dislike him!

I wouldn't mind but I really enjoy cooking and I actively have an interest in it so I know my meals are generally pretty tasty and they're also very varied (not modest I know!). Typical meals I'd make are; spag bol, roasts with all the trimmings, thai food, indian curries, pork casserole with apple, chicken florentine, pasta linguine, bean and sausage casseroles amongst many other things!

The only meals he appears to have liked are burgers and steak which he wolfed down like a savage.

Oh and he never says thank you for a meal.

He's giving me the rage! But I need to get a grip don't I?

As I mentioned before I stayed with a French family who cooked delicious food that I loved and they said they'd had a Spanish girl before me who hadn't liked the food. Some people are just better than others at trying new foods. Not sure why this has to be turned into an "English people are terrible cooks and hosts" thread. Yawn

When our son was that age he ate a very limited diet. We wouldn't have sent him away for so long mind you. Last time we were in Spain we found the available food very oily, and heavy on meat. A lot was deep fried. I think true Spanish food is delicious, but as tourists on a budget it was hard to find healthy meals, so we mostly cooked our own. I feel for you! I'd give him a boring burger and fries every day.

My eldest son was on an exchange in France. He was about 14 and staying in a bungalow with a spanish teenager exchange youth. The 'hosts' were french rustics and he was fed locally-caught rabbit and chickens and snails from the yard. The spanish lad smoked pot. It was a hovel really.
My normally fussy-eater son actually took it all in his stride. It was a wasted experience for him I think and he could not speak a word of french after 2 weeks.

Exactly. If my nearly 15 yo ds went to stay in Spain for 3 months and told his hosts that what he liked was pizzas and burgers, I'd be pretty horrified if they let him eat junk for the duration of his stay. Not to mention seriously unimpressed with him for getting them to do so

This

The onlyyoung adult I've known with that kind of diet also had an extremely serious kidney problem. I don't know if they were correlated, but it can't be good.

I doubt he's starving. More likely he has his own spending money and snacks throughout the day, which is why he's able to push aside your meal.

Apologies if this has already been said - I haven't read the whole thread yet - but I think with a child that age its not unreasonable to sit him down and tell him the expectations - that meals cost money and should be eaten. That in England we say 'thank you' etc. And maybe plate the meal in front of him asking him what he'd like, so you don't waste a load of good food.

We had lots of overseas students some years back and my, then 15 year old daughter, used to make a point of thanking me as soon as she sat down, complimenting the meal and thanking again at the end, by way of modelling expected behaviour.

You're taking this too personally. I host foreign students too. I find the teenage boys from any country strongly prefer simple meat and potatoes type meals, as well as the usual junk food things.

I also, as a teen, stayed with a Dutch family who fed me weird (to me) dishes that I couldn't tolerate. I would eat what I could and try to demure politely, fortunately they didn't act pissed off that I didn't like their food.

Try not to make him feel uncomfortable, he is already likely to feel vulnerable being away from home.

No wonder you have anxiety he's a nasty piece of work

Yes and no. What if your DC went to a country where they didn't like the food? What if they can't tolerate spicy food but then that's all they are cooked etc? Or like food with flavour and are served bland amd boiled food (even worse imo!!)

Just don't worry about him. He'll eat if he's hungry. I stay in Spain with Spanish friends and veggies are rare! They love meat & potatoes. He's probably buying snacks when out. Unless he's with you for months, he won't get scurvy or rickets. I'd serve the food in bowls for the diners to take what they want, then that lamb chop wouldn't have been wasted! Surprised his English is poor, they learn it from 6/7 yrs old.