re: Does it piss you off when people are close minded about trying new foods?

Took a girl out, she was 25. Ordered a shrimp appetizer (bang bang shrimp at bonefish). Girl wouldn't touch it, had never tried shrimp before, wasn't going to try it now. Talk about having a moment when you knew something wasn't going to work out.

My best friend only eats meat and potatoes and it pisses me off

He orders steak well done and never ever eats vegetables or salad or ethnic food

He even orders chicken fried steak from my favorite Mexican place

He's only 33 and will have a heart attack by 40 I bet

I don't really care what other people eat or don't eat. No skin off my back. People like different things. Some like more things than others.

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What bothers me is if someone insists you try something that you've already tried before and after you've told them "I've had that already, not a big fan" they say something along the lines of "Oh but you've never had THESE before, they're much better."

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Yes, this annoys me. Usually when I don't like something it's because I've tried it several times and just can't get into it.

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It only really bothers me if I cooked it and they refuse to try it.

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Luckily, I've never been in this situation because I've never served a sit-down meal to others. Usually, I cook a bunch of stuff and leave it on the stove. If someone skipped an item, I wouldn't even notice.

Now if someone worked really hard on a nice meal and another person was picky to the point where they only ate one of the many items served, it could be a little offensive. I had a friend who used to refuse to eat anything green. She would pick out parsley and green onions if they were in something she ate. At my own house, I know the girl and I'd let it go. But there are certain settings where behavior like that would offend someone.. and possibly just look plain ole ill-mannered.

I think there's a tactful way to handle any situation regarding likes/dislikes, and as long as it's done politely, it's fine. If you go into a fine dining restaurant and say "I'll have the ___.. no ___.. and no ___ and extra ____" you're going to look ridiculous and probably insult a chef. But if you politely tell your server that you think X item looks delicious, but you would truly appreciate if they would prepare it without Y item because it upsets your stomach (or something like that), I think she'd graciously take care of it.

It annoys me, especially when the food is FREE for them to try. The worst that could happen is they spit it out... the pros outweigh the cons by just trying something new every once in a while.

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Does it piss you off when people are close minded about trying new foods?

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I know it shouldn't, but yeah, it does. I never understand why you wouldnt at least try something vs. putting your foot down like a six year old, and saying "no."

Eta: I mean I'll give someone a pass for not trying a belut or something, but show some adventure.

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The only time it bothers me is if it's someone I'm dating, because it limits places we can go out to eat. If I go to eat

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Because I love to eat, that would be a deal breaker, insuring there will be no second date.

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This infuriates me. I get literally, but silently, offended.

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Exactly.

People are free to do as they wish and I truly try not to let it affect me. But it doesn't mean I don't think they're being a little rude (depending on how they do it, the reasoning, etc.).

If I dine with someone and they keep their dirty napkin next to them on the table and chew with their mouth open and lean on the table, I'm not going to say anything.. but I am still going to think they're ill-mannered for it.

ETA: I do really think it has a lot to do with how you're raised. I was at a loss for words when I got to high school and went to McDonalds with a friend and her mom, and they ordered "#1.. no X, no Y, extra Z.."

My family had never taught me that you could even do that. I had NO idea. I thought you just ordered your hamburger and ate it.

My dad and I were talking about this the other day.

When my sister and I were little, we would go up to visit my aunt during the summer. She always made weird stuff to eat. No fried chicken, no pizza, no cheeseburgers..... usually a lot of turkey products or some sort of fish and also no junk food to munch on for snacks. No chips, soda, anything.

She's a wonderful aunt but she is so weird when it comes to food. My dad would leave us with her and go into Philly and get pizza, cheesesteaks, etc. We got stuck with salads with raisins in it.

Now, she comes here to visit and she won't try anything here. No fried or baked chicken, no fried catfish (even though it's fish), no red beans and rice (no idea why she wouldn't try that), crawfish etouffee', nothing. I don't get it.

I ate your terrible turkey hot dogs (with no buns!! no idea why we couldn't have hot dog buns). You can try our fried catfish or gumbo or something.

I think there's something to that. She says she's allergic to pepper but she always had pepper when we went up there. The main thing was salt. No salt. Ever.

We had a big cookout at my sister's last year, bbq chicken, hot dogs, ribs, etc.

She showed up with a big tupperware bowl of some sort of pasta. It looked like those little pasta "balls" you see in Italian style wedding soup. That and a bunch of carrots and other stuff. She wouldn't try any of the bbq stuff. Or if you're not hungry, take a plate home.

Who the heck doesn't like bbq chicken? Then again, who eats turkey dogs instead of hot dogs and doesn't get hot dog buns for them?