‘All of them seemed to love my cooking.’ She Cooked a Meal For Her Boyfriend’s Coworkers But He Said Wasn’t “Western Enough”. Is She Wrong?
by Justin Gardner
Not “Western enough”, huh?
Well, that’s a new one.
Because who doesn’t love to try new foods?
I know I do…but I guess some folks want to stick to the same-old, same-old.
So was the woman who prepared this meal a jerk for what she did?
Read her story below and see what you think.
AITA for not cooking a western enough meal when having guests over?
“My boyfriend (24M) and I (21F) have recently hosted a dinner at his place with some of his coworkers and their partners. He recently got a promotion at work and his friends over there were asking for a treat.
I’m South Asian (Bangladeshi) and sometimes when I have leftovers from some of the traditional dishes I cook; I pack it for his lunch. Apparently many of his coworkers liked the smell and look of his food and some even tried it and liked it.
So when I asked him if we should just invite them at his place where I would cook some traditional dinner; he got excited and said yes. He gave me a heads up that two of them are vegetarian.
For dinner, I cooked white rice, tomato chutney, mashed potatoes, spinach, onion fritters, fried eggplants, chinese vegetables, spicy egg curry, chicken curry, lentils with green mango. For dessert, I made gajar halwa (carrot based pudding). I also served veg strips snack and beverages before dinner as an evening snack.
All of them seemed to love my cooking and kept complimenting me throughout the night. They also asked me many questions about the ingredients and what is the best way to eat each of them and I was happy to answer those.
After they all left, my boyfriend started ranting “what was that all about?” I got very confused and apparently when he assumed I was gonna cook traditional meals, he thought it would be more like what they serve at the weddings (biryani, chicken roast, spicy beef curry, kebab, fried fish, and other type of veggie dishes). He thought what we served was not up to the standards; especially when guests are over.
I argued that most of my dishes were vegetarian friendly and these are comfort food which are also quite tasty since they were all seasoned properly and made from scratch. He keeps saying that he should’ve just taken them to a restaurant and that I’m lucky none of them are Indian or something.
Otherwise they’d be able to tell that we just fed them “grass”. I was very hurt by that comment since I put a very high effort into all of that cooking when I don’t even live there.
I want some fresh outside perspective. AITA?”
Here’s what Reddit users said about this.
One person said she’s NTA and that her boyfriend doesn’t appreciate her.
Another Reddit user said she’s disgusted by the boyfriend’s behavior and that she should never doubt herself.
And this person said she went above and beyond.
Yes, a lot of people would love to have this food! This is the type of food you can’t get normally.
The boyfriend needs to grow up and get a better palette!
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.