A Conversation for Talking Point: Dream Dinner Parties
Check, check, and check again.
Agapanthus Started conversation Nov 3, 2004
I always always obsessively check with the guests if there's anything the don't/won't/can't eat. Some people are too shy to say outright they can't stand liver/are vegetarian/ explode on contact with mushrooms.
I myself don't eat dairy products as they make my eczema flare up. Technically my friends and family know this, but I still turn up to lovingly prepared, delicious meals of cheese straws, followed by macaroni cheese, followed by ice-cream. As the eczema is unattractive and itchy rather than agonisng or life-threatening, I sometimes just eat it. If it's family or a very good friend I know they won't mind me making myself a bit of pasta or raiding the fridge, but some people get so OFFENDED if I try to say I'd rather not eat it. I suppose they are feeling a mixture of guilt for not remembering what I said, irritation that I'm so awkward, and disbelief, because my symptoms come on one to three days after eating the stuff, and sometimes only very mildly. On one occasion the host teased me for saying I didn't eat dairy products for the ENTIRE meal, and in the end I just ate the damn stuff, and it gave me immense satisfaction to meet him the next day and show him the blisters and scales all over my fingers. Extreme on my behalf, I know. And on many many occasions I have taken a few mouthfuls, and then asked 'are you sure there's no dairy in this?' only to receive the answer 'Yoghurt doesn't count, does it?' or 'Only a little bit,' or 'I thought it was only milk you didn't drink'.
Yes, some people are not eating dairy, or wheat, or sugar, or whatever because they are sad little obsessives whose brains have been turned by the latest celebrity fad, but quite a lot of us really do have difficulty and we would be ever so greatful if you asked and then REMEMBERED what we said. A perfect dinner party would be one where I could happily eat the dinner.
Check, check, and check again.
Mu Beta Posted Nov 3, 2004
If your friends only serve macaroni cheese at their dinner parties I'd be looking to move upmarket. 
B
Check, check, and check again.
Beatrice Posted Nov 5, 2004
Well, that's a question of tastes, rather than taste, surely. I love macaroni cheese, and would be very happy to eat it at a dinner party!
But good point about checking what people really cannot eat.
Check, check, and check again.
Mu Beta Posted Nov 5, 2004
Well,
a: I hate Macaroni Cheese. Far too rich for my tastebuds.
b: Even if it was made from hand-wrough durum-wheat macaroni, fresh from Tuscany, and the finest Quickes Farm Cheddar, it would strike me as a bit cheap to put my bottle of £3.99 plonk next to.
B
Key: Complain about this post
Check, check, and check again.
More Conversations for Talking Point: Dream Dinner Parties
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."