When it comes to food, we all have our likes and dislikes.

For some people this can go further, with eating disorders, allergies and intolerances all making things a bit more complicated when you eat out.

And that’s before adding other people to the mix.

In this story a woman has to negotiate her own relationship with food alongside her relationship with her father in law.

Read on to find out what happened.

AITA for refusing to eat the food my FIL made and lying about why?

I have been married to my husband for over a year.

He was raised in the UK, his father his Greek and his mother is English.

When his parents got divorced, his father moved back to Greece, and because he has always had a strained relationship with his father, they don’t talk or see each other very much.

They do tend to get together to have dinner whenever he’s back in the UK.

This time he was back for a month and he rented out an apartment and invited us round.

He didn’t specify that we were going to eat anything, just said we could have a few drinks and chat.

I’ve only met him once or twice before now, and I didn’t see any reason not to go.

I figured that it would be some good backup for my husband if he wanted to leave early or anything.

We went at around 9pm.

Let’s find out what happened when they arrived.

When we got there, my father-in-law had made a traditional Greek dish called spanakopita (sort of like a pie but it’s made with filo pastry, it has spinach and feta).

For context, I have a history of anorexia, and eating in front of people that I don’t really know is still an issue for me.

I tend to avoid anything with pastry even now.

He was pleasant enough, welcomed us in and offered us the food.

I said no thank you because I was anxious with the situation.

Read on to find out how this woman’s father-in-law reacted.

My husband caught on that I was uncomfortable and told his dad that we’d already eaten, but his dad kept insisting that we should try it.

At us saying no again, he got very up in arms about how he’d gone to the effort of making the food.

He said it shouldn’t be such an issue for us to just have some of it, and that he felt as though we were disrespecting him by refusing to eat the food.

My husband and I apologised and offered to stay for drinks, but ultimately left as he remained angry about the situation.

I know I could have explained why I didn’t want to eat it, but I felt uncomfortable trauma dumping on him about the real reason why.

Or I could have tried a little bit and then just left it and he probably would have been fine.

AITA?

It can be tricky when different cultural norms are involved, but this girl’s discomfort is understandable.

Let’s find out what the people of Reddit had to say about this.

This person thought that the woman and her husband could have been clearer.

While another Redditor gave her a gentle lesson on Greek culture.

This person suggested a response for the next time this situation arose.

While others encouraged the woman to get further help with her eating disorder.

Listen. What people eat or don’t eat shouldn’t be anyone else’s business.

But this does require a little understanding of other people’s feelings too: especially where the norms of other cultures come in.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.