February 27, 2024 at 9:40 am

His Stepdaughter Constantly Complains About His Cooking, So Dad Tells Her To Eat What He Makes Or Go Hungry

by Matthew Gilligan

Source: Reddit/AITA/Unsplash/@jsnbrsc

I can see a little kid complaining about food and not liking anyone’s cooking…but a 19-year-old trying to pull that?

No way, Jose!

Well, that’s my opinion…

But you gotta read this story and see what you think.

Start now!

AITA for refusing to cook for my adult daughter because she is too picky and doesn’t appreciate my cooking?

“I (53M) love to cook. There will be days where I slave away in the kitchen all day to make a big meal, and I will do it happily.

My wife (50F) can cook when I’m not around but honestly I can’t think of any time when she has made anything because I always want to do it, and that’s fine by me as long as I feel appreciated for it.

This is a pretty crowded house.

I have a 24 yo son Eric. My wife has a 19 yo daughter Liz from previous marriages and we have a 15 yo son David together. Eric lives with us for now to save up money while he works but still pays rent.

He will eat literally anything with the exception of not liking blue cheese. David likes pretty much everything but is allergic to eggs. I can work around these constraints pretty easily when I cook.

And then there’s Liz…

Liz is a different story. She has always been kind of picky with the foods she dislikes but it has gotten way worse. She went to college for a semester and then dropped out so now she is living at home, and while she was away, she developed some terrible pickiness. she has had stints of being a vegan, being vegetarian, being grain-free, pasta-free, oil-free, etc. but she isn’t consistent about it.

I try to help meet her needs but on any given day, she has something new to complain about with a food I want to cook. Sometimes she and I will debate for hours about what to make with me basically saying tell me what you want for dinner that will work for you and I will cook it, so long as it meets the other kids’ restrictions, and she is so unhelpful with this.

You know what’s coming next…

Two nights ago, I cooked a dish that Liz told me looked good in a book. We all sat down for dinner and everybody loved it except Liz. She complained that she didn’t realize there were peanuts in the recipe, and peanuts are so unhealthy for us so she doesn’t think she can eat it and can I make her something else.

He’d had enough…

I was fed up and told her “no, you can eat this or you will eat nothing. I am done having to deal with your pickiness and criticism of my cooking. I will no longer be taking any of your feedback on what you want for dinner and will be cooking what everybody else wants. You can either eat that or cook yourself something else.”

She started crying and said that I take the other kids’ restrictions on what to eat so why can’t I do the same for her. I reminded her that Eric only dislikes a single thing that I don’t care for either so there’s no risk of it popping into a dish, and if David has eggs he will probably pass away, so it’s not the same as her vetoing every single thing I want to make.

Not everyone is on his side.

My wife took her side and said that I am being too sensitive and mean because Liz is not my real daughter and I am showing favoritism (this is nonsense by the way). I told my wife that she can cook Liz meals if she wants (as if) but I’m not going out of my way to meet her needs.

AITA?”

Check out what folks said about this on Reddit.

One person said he’s NTA but has a question for him…

Source: Reddit/AITA

Another individual thinks they know what’s really going on here.

Source: Reddit/AITA

One Reddit user nailed it.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This person talked about how things worked when they were growing up.

Source: Reddit/AITA

And another individual said he just stop cooking for both of them.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Sometimes you’ve gotta put your foot down and make kids realize that they don’t have endless choices.

Good job, dad!

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