Offended by friend’s comments about party food

[LinsMum22]

We hosted my friend, her husband and three kids yesterday afternoon. Our sons are in the same football team and we said we’d put some food on at ours after and watch the Liverpool match who they both support. My friend agreed to party style food being the best option as everyone could pick at it as and when.

Amongst other things, there was - Indian selection, tempura prawns, sausage rolls, mini pizza’s, mini sausages, chips, breaded chicken. So a good mix all from Iceland where we’ve had positive comments on the food before.

I could tell my friends’ youngest looked unimpressed when they tried one of the items, and pulled a face to my friend. She made no
attempt to get them to try another item and basically said ‘I know’. I noticed five minutes later she had barely ate anything herself either.

15/20 minutes later, the youngest moaned again and this time my friend said ‘don’t worry, we will stop at McDonald’s on the way back as I’m hungry too.’

I text her after they left to say sorry if they didn’t enjoy the food. She replied to say they didn’t realise it would be that sort of food and that they’d have got something else before coming round if they realised!!

AIBU to find this really snobby and ungrateful? The fact she then took the kids to get a McDonald’s makes no sense!!

I’d call this picky bits, meaning you can pick as you much as you’d like. But our ‘party’ ‘picky’ food would consist of olives, nice bread, hummus, some cold meats…..

Imagine if you served party food from Lidl or Aldi, OP!

I haven't had a sausage roll for years but love them straight from the oven. quite fancy one now, prompted by this thread.

We all like different things.

The op wasn't doing a formal lunch, it was snack food and plenty of it by the sound of things, quite a variety. They were only going to watch.a game on TV.

Rank is such a common word. I judge.

This 👆💯
🍾🎉🍾🎉

Clearly everybody's idea of party food is different. My fil has done a goat curry(!!) in the past. But going to a fast food place after turning your nose up at what's offered is a bit rich. No guarantee if it had been expensive olives, hummus, cold meats and artisan bread someone would find fault or their children won't/can't eat that.

So rude , they have poor manners .

That buffet sounded more than good enough for any snotty nosed brat and his insufferable mother who thought McDonalds was a better choice.

The only thing missing was fish paste sandwiches, warm orange squash and jelly and ice cream, but then I was brought up on party food in the sixties and seventies and frankly tempura prawns would have been the last word in sophistication.

Rude cow. Was she expecting caviar?

That's not "party food" - it's just food. And a bit dull. Hummus can be very nice but it's an everyday item. Cold meats, however- ugh.

Who cares? There is such a thing as manners.

I knew she’d prefer M and S.
She shouldn’t have made you feel like this at the party, and when she apologised, she should have meant it, not brought up M and S.
If the Queen could eat sheep’s eye balls without complaining, she should have been able to eat food from Iceland, or at the very least said absolutely nothing about her preferences and thanked you profusely for hosting.

Did she bring any food / drink herself as I would have done , it's good manners , or gift ? Wine / chocolate/ dessert ?

Friend was spectacularly rude and I wouldn't have her back for her behaviour. I love proper food but party food for football is definitely a beige occasion. Due to the McDonalds visit they definitely were not disappointed because they weren't presented with celery/cream cheese boats and carrot sticks. I suspect it was too forrin for them, chicken dippers and wedges might have been more apt. Anyway OP, your effort sounds great, don't worry about what she thinks.

If OP has any sense there won’t be a next time!

I can’t understand why they were so rude. I have offered Iceland stuff many times for this sort of occasion and it’s gone down a treat! I don’t think the food needs changing, but the ‘friends’ do!

Put it this way, I cannot abide salmon or blue cheese but if I'm ever served either up, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm going to eat the lot and thank the host profusely for providing it. It's basic manners.

As an aside, I'm not a regular Iceland shopper, but I could eat their cheese and onion rolls till they were coming out of my ears.

Well all I know is plenty of people must shop there or they wouldn’t still be in business.

I bet most of their customers have better manners than this snooty tart and her face-pulling sprog.

I would consider meats, cheeses, breads, salad to be a buffet and if I'm honest I would inwardly be a bit disappointed at beige heated food

But this wasn’t ever meant to be a buffet, as far as I can tell. It was a few snacks during the football. Things you could easily eat with your fingers; things you can pick up a couple at a time, quickly, during a slow period in the game. Meats and cheeses - even a baked Camembert, as someone suggested - might be all very nice for a more formal birthday or anniversary party, where the food is a big part of the celebration, and where there’s going to be a lot of sitting around chatting. But it wasn’t appropriate here.

Saying haughtily “Well, that’s not my idea of a buffet” is missing the point just as much as saying a ready meal lasagne isn’t your idea of fresh handmade pasta.

That was quite a vivid image actually.

Also I agree about blue cheese.

Bet he's right in the dog house for showing them up tucking in 🤣🤣

I thought frozen food was the freshest as it is frozen at its peak of freshness. I’m pretty sure many chefs and nutritionists have confirmed this.

What has she got against frozen food? It's no different to fresh and might actually be fresher. Sounds like pure snobbery to me.

I haven’t tried iceland for party food. But I haven’t noticed loads of difference between frozen or fresh party food say in sainsburys or asda - and I do get some in m and s. Online if you aren’t paying attention you end up with a bit of both.
Haven’t done an iceland shop since I got burned by an unreliable online order so nothing against it.
She sounds batshit if she hadn’t seen the packaging she’d have no idea and the kid who didn’t like the first thing would have been encouraged to try something else!

Me!!

Love a bit of Iceland, even though according to some on this thread that also makes me an utter chavette with no taste and also am a stickler for good manners.

Having said that I should also add that I'm also not adverse to a bit of Waitrose and cook from scratch 95% of the time, before I get my MN membership forcibly removed!