To not want to eat Chinese - help me to see if I’m being unreasonable

[Watermoves]

My partners favourite take away is Chinese. I’m not keen, I’m vegetarian (raised this way) and just find its bland and boring. I have eaten Chinese but I don’t really like it.

Therefore we often have Indian, Mexican, pizza etc if we have a takeaway all of which he also really likes. I often offer to get him a Chinese or suggest he gets one if I’m working late etc but he always says no.

it come to a head tonight as he wanted a Chinese take away and I didn’t fancy it but suggested I would get something else. He said it’s not the same eating a takeaway alone. I kinda get that, but I would have got myself an Indian. (We would be eating at the table together just different food)

He basically said I should suck it up and eat the Chinese food every so often for him? My rationale is that I shouldn’t have to eat what I don’t want or like?

who is being unreasonable?

Get Vietnamese instead.

Yanbu. I'm vegan and Chinese is the worst, it's just boring baby sweetcorn and mange tout in horrible tasteless sauce, hardly anywhere sure according with tofu and it's mostly in the same horrible sauce. I used to love Chinese when I ate meat but they just don't do good veggie options over here.

I’m pescatarian and don’t like Chinese.. the only one that I can bear is the Good Earth which is £££ so dh knows it’s that or nothing!

I do have to say there is a correlation on my local facebook feeds between those asking for new takeaway suggestions vs those asking for freebies, it's a direct correlation.

You need to try salt and pepper tofu. If it's done well, it's delicious 😋

I'm on your side here.

I'm veggie and the local Chinese takeaway can only offer me vegetable chow mein, sweet and sour vegetables or mushrooms in black bean sauce. No tofu or anything like that.

I would rather have Indian food too but we rarely bother as I can make better curries myself.

There's literally a very easy way to avoid that happening...

Your partner sounds like a dick. Eating two different cuisines at the same time at the same table is perfectly reasonable. Forcing you to eat a cuisine you're not fussed on is not.

We rarely eat takeaway, but when we do, sometimes one of us will have Chinese, and the other Indian, we have a good choice where we live so can pop into them altogether to collect.

Takeaways once per week are too much IMO. They are full of salt, unhealthy fats and crap. Best saved for once a month maximum. Agree that chinese takeaways are overrated though

But he doesn't want separate orders. He wants the OP to eat what he eats, and be excited about it.

HIBU.

I agree OP. In my home town there are probably 20+ Chinese takeaways (no eat-in restaurants) and they all serve very similar menus. I used to love Chinese food before I went veggie but now my options are so limited and all of them boring. It's basically disappointing veg in whatever sauce. There's no protein to bulk up the dish. None of them serve tofu or any other kind of vegetarian alternative - believe me, I've checked them all! I wish i had better options, some of the dishes PPs have suggested sound amazing! But I suspect many towns and cities across the UK are like mine

Yes you need to read properly, too!

Can you try another takeaway?
There is probably something in specific cooking that triggers you in that particular one.
Also, he is controling for expecting you to get all hyped over food you do not like.

Are you actually living in the Just Eat ad? Does Katy Perry or Snoop Dogg hand-deliver it to you?😉

I am in awe (and very jealous) of how decadent this sounds!!

Woman should eat what she doesn’t like to keep man’s need for control and emotional neediness satisfied

he is a prick

nothing winds me up more than someone guilting me into eating food i don't want to eat, granted i may have some eating issues so it's a big issue for me but i don't see why anyone that doesn't would want to waste their calories on food they don't like/want? that's mad and yes he's being unreasonable
i'd get his point if you were against him having one but you clearly aren't so he needs to stop being a pansy and have a chinese alone😂

Depends what region of China / most ‘English’ Chinese is Hong Kong/Cantonese style / schezuan style is much more interesting and flavoursome esp veg food imo.

Yeah, that and the one about buying ingredients to cook your own Chinese ‘takeaway’. Surely the whole point is the NOT cooking?

Gotta love Mumsnet😆

I’m sure there must be some decent dishes on the menu. My veggie dd opts for the mushroom foo yong (omelette) or a tofu based dish - there’s about 2 dozen vegetarian options at our local one. We don’t have Chinese takeaway very often because it’s not that nice compared to homemade Chinese food and I can cook it quicker than going to fetch a takeaway if I have ingredients.

if he likes Chinese and you prefer Indian try making this:

indo Chinese sauce

1 pepper sliced
1 onion sliced into petals
1 chilli cut finely
1 inch ginger grated and same amount garlic

saute veg add the ginger, chilli and garlic, add 100ml water and a veggie stock cube, 50ml dark soy sauce, a heaped dessert spoon medium curry powder, heaped dessert spoon sugar, juice and zest of one lime and a star anise.

Mix a heaped dessert spoon of cornflour with a little water and chop 10g coriander.

taste sauce after 5 minutes adding more sugar or soy if preferred, add the cornflour mix gradually to achieve desired consistency. This is your sauce.

for a vegetarian option, roll firm tofu in a little soy sauce then toss in 2 tablespoons corn flour. Heat a pan until medium hot, add oil generously then add the coated tofu, cook until golden then put into the sauce (you can also prepare pork, chicken or even mushrooms this way)

@Watermoves He said it’s not the same eating a takeaway alone

I wish I could somehow instill this idea into my own head. I would be a lot thinner.

Totally depends on the restaurant - a sichuan hotpot or clay pot aubergine is definitely not bland or boring. Xinjiang-style restaurants are also delicious. Even dim sum restaurants are usually pretty nice, though further towards the “refined” (bland) end of the spectrum.

It's easy to see which posters live in larger cities, isn't it?

That's a weird thing for him to say. Is he controlling about anything else?

I'm vegetarian too and I'm not keen on our local Chinese takeaway, but I think another Chinese takeaway in town is great. I like their fried tofu and mixed veg and a satay noodle dish which is rather like a curry. So it's probably worth shopping around if you haven't already. Also, I've realised that I love Malaysian food! If there's a Malaysian takeaway near you, definitely have a look at the menu.

I say to my husband and kids, (often 😂) "I can't wait for a takeaway". We normally have one every few weeks on a weekend. We eat it together but I wouldn't expect to eat the same cuisine! We have no deliveries in our tiny town but about five takeaways, so it's only a case of walking up or down the street to pick up everyone's order.
Does he feel embarrassed that you think his meals unpleasant? Or judged? Bizarre! That's the only thing I can think of if you eat together.

@Watermoves

He needs to grow the fuck up. You're a grown adult & if you don't like it, you don't like it. It's no big deal to get separate takeaways every now & then. Why is he making it a thing??