How do you go about feeding visitors, in particular relatives, who eat quite
differently from you?  Do you ask them what they like and buy that?  Ask them
what they don't like and try to find something not on that list that you are
also willing to eat?  Suggest that they cook for everyone?  Take them to
restaurants to eat?  Let them take you to restaurants?  House them in a motel
with a restaurant?  What if you are vegetarian and they think they cannot live
without eating meat at every meal?  Or the reverse?  And how did siblings end
up so different from each other anyway?  Were they always such fussy eaters?

12 responses total.

I ask them what kind of food they like and make an effort to cook those dishes
along with stuff I'll like.  The easiest thing to do is go out to eat, but
if they're there all weekend that can be expensive.

I made the mistake of asking my visitors what foods they did not like.  The
list was short, because they had no imagination.  It should have included
whole grain breakfast cereals.  They wanted coffee and pastries so we took
them down the street to Big City Cafe and watched them eat.  They had lunch
at Zingerman's (corned beef and pickles) while we munched bread ends and
tomatoes.  We found two vegetables that they ate and cooked those for supper.
We bought apples, they bought apple juice.  It worked out because we all meant
well.  Jim made bread for breakfast the next day (whole wheat).  How can we
eat bread made without any sugar?  We suggested they put jelly on it, but they
declined to try the mayhaw jam for some reason.  Or the honey.  Or the linden
tea (spearmint was familiar).  Next time we will know not to cook eggplants,
or Chinese noodles, or tomatoes, or citrus anything, or oatmeal, or wheatena,
or any tea not found in the supermarket.  I forget sometimes how worldly
people are in Ann Arbor.  Quinoa they liked.  (This was my brother, who never
did like vegetables - he said it is not true that he never ate many
vegetables, it was only that there were not many vegetables that he ate.)
Anyone want to come up with a short list of foods that most people would
probably eat?  Or a longer list of foods that most people would not even try?

Jim says he does not having eating habits in common with his family, so he
took his own food along when he went visiting for two weeks.  He did not want
the body shape or health problems that they had.  He sampled their cooking,
they would not even try his.  For a day or two he would eat their cooking,
but the sugar and fat levels are too high for him for extended periods.   
Jim cooked himself brown rice, chestnuts, lentils, all harmless stuff.  His
relatives were simply not interested in sharing.  Jim says a definition of
family for him includes sharing food.    He no longer eats all the same old
familiar foods that he grew up with.  His relatives would cook the same thing
they were eating, but left out the meat, but they would not eat any of what
they prepared for him.  Not what he would call sharing.  (This was stuffed
cabbage.  He thought it was delicious.)
        My mother bought brown rice for us when we visited and told us she had
whole wheat rice.  She was adventurous but tried to butter the rice.  
        Jim thinks common foods are extremely important in ethnic groups,
religious identification (how can you be kosher if you don't eat meat?, or
catholic if you don't eat fish?).  
        Then they would take him to restaurants and everything had meat.
He says the majority of the time during family visits revolves around food,
and if you are not sharing the same food, you are not sharing the same
experiences.  Everyone wanted to go to a clam bake and they would not let him
bring his own supper in case there was nothing vegetarian.  They would not
let him do that so he did not go.  (Grexers are much more tolerant - we were
allowed to bring our own lunch on a grex walk, and eat it in a restaurant).

Kosher vegetarian is **easy**.
So is Kosher Chinese.
Kosher pizza is tougher. 8^}

Wouldn't most veggie pizzas count as kosher?

I think most cheese would not count as kosher, since it is made with rennet
derived from an animal, and kosher foods cannot contain meat and milk. 
'Vegetarian' cheeses use a non-animal type of rennet, but contain milk.  Vegan
cheeses don't contain milk.

Since K cheese is not standard stock in most grocery cases, pizza is 
much easier without cheese. Mmmm - you can actually taste the 
vegetables!

Interesting.  I know non-vegan vegetarians who avoid cheese on account of
rennet, but I hadn't realized that people did the same to keep kosher.

We carry Kosher cheddar at the wine & cheese shop I work.You're on your
own for the vegies.

I usually ask for guidelines (preferences, allergies, dislikes) and cook
accordingly. I also try to use the opportunity to make interesting things,
to turn their mind on to the pleasure of cooking. 

Can you believe some people have never had fondue (or don't realize they have
had it), or have always cooked their meat too rapidly, and never realized meat
cooked slowly can be silly juicy and tender? 

Our Sunday visitor will be easy to cook for.  He keeps kosher and we keep
vegetarian.  He does not eat milk and eggs.  No problem.  It is people like
my brother who don't eat vegetables that are a challenge.  I will do something
creative with some giant beets and cabbages and jerusalem artichokes.

I love fondue; the last time I had fondue was at The Melting Pot on
Easter a few years ago. My parents had a fondue set at one point but I
don't know what became of it [didn't come across it when cleaning out
the apartment after my dad died].

I'm not much of a cook but recently, I've been trying some new things
with mixed results. Some of my problems are: I'm a picky eater, my taste
buds have changed since my surgery in July [which is apparently pretty
common], my stomach can't tolerate some types of food that I used to be
able to eat like things that are fried or otherwise greasy.

So I'm trying new things, things I think I'd like based on what I used
to enjoy that isn't high in fat. But I haven't been overly thrilled with
a few dishes that I've tried.

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss