S'mee wrote:
> I was checking out Gloria's Sweet & Sour Cocktail Meatball recipe
> (which sounds excellent, btw; my sibling makes something very similar).
> Anyway, I figured I wouldn't bother to save the recipe because Miguel
> (DH) doesn't like meatballs of any kind. Or white sauce. Or coconut.
> Or most sandwiches. *Sigh*
>
> Now I'm sure at least 10 people are queuing up to tell me I should
> make him eat it anyway, because they certainly wouldn't put up with
> that. But I'm more interested in knowing what kind of fussiness
> the rest of you may have to deal with.


I'd say the whole way of thinking about the question is different for
children and husbands. I don't recommend "making" anyone, child or
adult, eat anything they don't choose to eat, but even if I did, I
wouldn't have the first idea how to force a husband to eat. Tie him up
and hold a gun to his head? Every image I come up with is equally absurd.


On the other hand, what's stopping you from making a small portion of
the recipe you want to try and eating it yourself? Tell him he's on his
own for one night. He's an adult and can cook or go out. Or you could
make the meatball recipe and a vegetable side dish. He won't die if he
just gets vegetables for dinner one night.


You ask about fussiness in this household. As a rule, Jim doesn't care
for some of the greens I like (broccol rabe), and I don't like some of
the root vegetables he likes (beets). We have differences of opinion on
fish too. We both like to cook so it's not a big deal. When one of us
wants something that the other can't stand, we make it for ourselves.


I just got a test of seeing if I could stand behind my own beliefs about
not badgering people to eat anything they don't want to. I was a picky
kid who put up with parents constantly complaining about what I ate or
didn't eat. Meanwhile, I was healthy and growing normally, and I don't
recall ever demanding that they cook anything special for me. I just
wanted to be able to turn down whatever I didn't want to try. In time,
I grew out of the pickiness. My niece is very like I was. She and my
brother just visited. We went out to lunch at a Chinese buffet where
there's tons to choose from.


(This is a cool place-- an all you can eat buffet with at least 60
different items in steam tables. It isn't gourmet Chinese food; a lot
of it is fried and in sticky sauces, but there's plenty to choose from
including meats, stir-fry vegetables, cut up plain strawberries and
canteloupe, soups, salad, sushi, ice cream, cookies, etc.) She's 13 and
a vegetarian. She put a little white rice on her plate and some
strawberries, took a small bowl of ice cream and a slice of garlic
bread. She wanted someone else at the table to tell her what was on the
bread apparently because she was afraid it might turn out to have cheese
when she wanted garlic bread, poked around at the rice and didn't touch
the strawberries.


My first reaction was to say something about how she was eating so
little and so unhealthily, but then I drew a deep breath and said to
myself, she's a healthy height and weight for her age. She has no
health problems. She's really a nice polite kid. She didn't complain
or demand anything different food-wise or in any other way. (I took
some issue with the conversation about the garlic bread, but I could let
it go.) I just have to leave her alone.


--Lia