High Maintenance Guests

[cd332]

I have a friend who recently complained to me about his dinner guests. He said once invited, they would follow the acceptance with "just so you know" and proceed to rattle off a list of their allergies, their mandatory low-sodium, no sugar, carb-free, gluten-free, no-egg, vegeterian, free-range asparagus, halal bordeaux, non-plastic, non-wood

Comments

[hunterxtc]

Since I am trying to be that vegetarian kinda guy, I don't really like going out to people's houses to eat for the reasons you mention. I don't want to be a bother to them, having them make something "special"... usually people make some sort of vegetable so I can get something, but I would think it very rude to impose one's requirements on the guest.

[cd332]

When I know the people, it doesn't bother me. When I go visit Frank and his friends in Asheville, they are hardcore vegans (you can't even use pasta - egg based), I flex my vegan kitchen wizardry.

But being a vegeterian is not the same as people with a million special requests. And of course, there's always the traditional polite way, and that's to get tight with a few glasses of gin martini's and simply enjoy the company.

Even though I have been vegeterian for like three years (I return to the full pantry to get a better understanding of cooking, thanks to Pepin), I will try just about anything that isn't endangered, buggy, or killed cruelly. As with everything else, to really understand cooking - for me - is to sample everything out there.

Just like poetry. I can't believe there's a million South American poets out there and people are still quoting T.S. Eliot to this day.

[cd332]

that's right. i meant to say standard pasta. we always have to look high and low for egg-free pasta when we hit the mainstream supermarkets.

btw, i thought about you the other day. i went to apply for a job at a big wine store. the wine manager passed on me. but just the other day i was asking about the chateau tour haut caussan bordeaux.

the new wine guy on the phone said, "how do you spell that?"

I said "C-A-U-"

And he said, "No, how do you spell bordeaux?"

You're welcome.

[kellianne]

Reading entries like this scares me. I've accepted too many dinner invitations without saying anything about my soy and lactose intolerance. When presented with nothing I can eat, I've eaten it anyhow, to be polite, and ended up on the toilet in pain for days. Now I find it better to just let them know... And tell them that I can bring a dish.

[cd332]

Thank heavens nobody has gin intolerance. Because I have trained myself to not eat anything and simply "drink it out." :-)

[cd332]

Again one or two requests is reasonable. But I do pity the cook who has to take care of a dozen people with different requests. I guess the new invitation strategy is less is more :-)))

I just don't know how all of us managed say 25 years ago. I don't remember hearing so many problems back then. We had discussions about the celiac issue, and I understand the complications, but I mean "Gluten-Free, organically fed-free range chicken in dog food?" Come on. (I know I'm going to get 300,000 emails for that comment)

Sure we know more than we do then...but it just amazes me that we still send all our salmonella infected stuff over to Mexico and they just choke it up without a moment's hesitation.

[cd332]

actually my "25 years ago" comment was directed at your statement that you "miss the days when you could go out to a restaurant without being one of those people." i was wondering about whether there was a time you didn't feel the repercussions.

But no need to answer this one. I'll find out on my own. we'll leave it at that.