Other people's cooking makes me feel sick

[TheLuckyMoose]

Okay, so I already know I am BU in some ways. I’m just not sure how others cope?

Other people’s food hygiene standards make me feel sick. Whether it’s my brother cooking with a sweaty forehead, whether it’s people touching the food when I know they haven’t washed their hands. Or it could be someone talking over the food they are making and I’m sure saliva is getting into the food.

Recently I have been at a friends house and she doesn’t rinse the debris off the plates before washing them. So the basin water ends up full of stuff and that water is subsequently used to clean more dishes.

I also have a friend who literally licks her fingers whilst cooking.

I wondered if I have OCD, but my fear is not of getting ill, it’s more that I feel sick eating the food given to me when people just aren’t hygienic enough in my opinion.

I know this post sounds awful, please be gentle with me. I have had issues with this since I was little, but I’m just noticing more and more people doing unhygienic things whilst preparing meals and it’s making my life difficult.

I remember staying at a relative’s house and having a casserole. After we’d finished, the dish was put on the floor for the dog to lick, then it was washed in lukewarm water. We had another casserole the next night…😬

I worked with someone who washed her meat religiously before cooking… she was then off for a week or more with really bad food poisoning! I can’t prove the cause obviously, but I don’t suppose all that unnecessary handling of raw chicken whilst washing it would have helped!

And yet you survived… and presumably didn’t come down with food poisoning as you’d have said. Kind of proves the point that we can be too neurotic when it comes to these things.

I don't think there is anything neurotic about having concerns about the hygiene in the kitchens of others who are planning on serving you their food. Disgust is a primary human emotion for a reason. It's linked with our survival as a species.

I think a lot of people here have similar issues to you OP, but that doesn’t mean they are healthy. It’s never even occurred to me to worry about people talking over food prep. I am notoriously lax about stuff like this. I wash hands before cooking, but otherwise i think the rest is bordering on, if not actually OCD.

Unless the water is actually boiling (100 degrees) then it is the soap and the scrubbing movement that washes the germs off.

My dog licks the dishes in the dishwasher before it goes in and I wash on an Eco wash of 50 degrees. But I’d have no issue eating out of that casserole dish.

A lot of it sounds genuinely disgusting so I understand why it makes you sick - licking fingers, washing up in dirty water, not washing hands before handling food etc

But things like talking whilst cooking is pretty normal and it’s unusual to feel disgusted by this. So I wonder if there is an element of a you issue here - not necessarily OCD but maybe a health anxiety because of the possible germs?

I wouldn’t never want to eat at the house of someone who let a dog lick dishes that humans were going to use ever, no matter how they were washed. Dogs should have entirely separate dishes and shouldn’t be licking cooking items. Even if technically speaking all germs are being killed in the top layer of the dishwasher it’s just grim.

And I’m really not a clean freak at all!

You’re not supposed to wash in especially not in the sink! There had been loads of public info about this - it transfers the bacteria to the sink and it’s probably why meat washing friend got food poisoning - from the meaty sink!

I don’t get it either?

Gads no one should be washing raw meat in their sink. Haven’t you seen the video where it shows all the bacteria from the chicken flying all over the kitchen from the water droplets hitting it? 😱

Yes, and you also have to breathe through your nose ONLY in case you let any moisture out of your mouth that could fall on the food.

Kindly, this is excessive to the point of being pathological. Sweaty forehead? Washing dishes in (presumably) hot water with (presumably) washing up liquid both of which clean germs? Talking in the kitchen?

You really need to get some help for this as it is only going to get worse - after you've cut out all the current worries and won't eat at people's houses if they do this, what will be next?

YABVU in most of your examples. I feel sad for you because you don’t sound well and it must be very hard living such a restrictive life. You must struggle to function. As a PP said, we aren’t meant to be sterile.

Washing meat is ridiculous.

Would it help if you better understood the immune system and body function?

Might not, but most of what you’ve described has no real potential to make you sick. I realise that’s rational and based on illness risk from these things rather than personal preference - and this might not help.

But stomach acid sorts out an awful lot of things.

I’m the exact same OP!

my sister licks her fingers whilst making food and it makes me feel so ill.

I don’t eat at other peoples houses and to be honest I was like this even as a child. Food that other people has prepared has always made me feel sick.

I can’t get my head around other people being okay with it 😂

I get you. i dread home made stuff too like cakes,buns,jams,fudge etc and no matter how lovely the thought as a treat etc it goes in the bin, I just can't

Same. My lovely neighbour makes jams and pickles and always gives me a couple of jars of each, and my sister in law does the same. Unfortunately they both have dogs and I can't get past that. The dogs are often round their feet when they're doing stuff and they give them the odd stroke. I just can't. I have to bin it.

Then do them a favour and tell them you find their food disgusting so they stop wasting time and resources on you.

Dangerous, too, cause of food poisoning.

BIL’s wife used to wash eggs before boiling them. Poor woman was quite unwell.

Fully understand where the OP is coming from. I am really careful with good hygiene, and notice that most other people aren’t. I visited relatives last week where the cook several times touched or patted her dog and went straight back to food prep without washing her hands. It absolutely turned my stomach.

Not really sure what the solution is, other than to avoid these situations where possible.

Then do them a favour and tell them you find their food disgusting so they stop wasting time and resources on you

No. That would upset them. What you don't know won't hurt.

But did that make you ill? Has someone patting a dog ever, in human history, ever made another person ill? No sickness caused, no effect on the smell or taste of the food produced: what is the problem? If someone patted their child’s head whilst preparing food would that bother you?

Kindly, OP, this is about your unusual and unnecessary reactions. It is possible to be way too hung up on food hygiene, and none of the people you mention will ever be I'll as a result of their own cooking. It might be a good idea to seek support for your anxieties.

Nobody should ever wash meat - that's just a basic rule.

I really feel sorry for you OP and anyone else who lets these concerns impinge on their social life.

I wouldn’t like to eat in someone’s home if the kitchen seemed filthy but thankfully I’ve never been anywhere like that.