'AITA for criticizing my husband for putting Tabasco sauce on my mother's beef stew?'
"AITA for criticizing my husband for putting Tabasco sauce on my mother's beef stew?"
My (31f) husband (32m) and I have been married for going on 3 years now. Things are great, and we are trying to start a family. However, he does have on habit that I find.pretty annoying. He puts Tabasco sauce on EVERYTHING. Pretty much all savory dishes.
Pizza, pasta, eggs, salads, soups, stews, chicken or beef pot pie. You name it, he puts Tabasco sauce on it. He even mixes it with other condiments. If he eats fries, he'll mix it with the ketchup that he dips them in. He insists that the "little bit of acid and heat" enhances the flavor of just about everything. The man legit goes through a 12 oz bottle of the stuff like every 10 days.
Like I said, it annoys me, but he's a good husband so I for the most part just accept this as a quirk of his that I just have to live with. However, recently my mother came to stay with us for a few days. She lives a few states away.
One night, she wanted to make dinner for us. She made us beef bouruignon as well as some salad and rolls. As the daughter of French immigrants to the US, beef bouruignon is kind of her signature dish and something she takes a lot of pride in.
When we sat down to eat, my husband remarked "This all looks and smells great." But then he proceeded to pull out his effing bottle of Tabasco sauce and sprinkle it over both the stew and the salad. I wanted to scream. Could the man just enjoy a single dish the way it was meant to be eaten for once?
When we were alone, I admit I picked a fight over it. I told him that it was disrespectul to the dish that my mother had lovingly prepared for us for his to alter it.
He responded that he did enjoy the dish and the flavors that she had produced, but that he just has a certain way he likes to eat things, and that he was only enhancing her dish, not burying it. But I still think it was disrespectful, and that he needs to train his palate to enjoy dishes some dishes without Tabasco sauce. AITA?
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
Any-Maintenance5828 said:
YTA, OP! After reading everything she wrote twice…YTA. Also, it’s silly to pick a fight with your husband because of this.
Kasparian said:
YTA. You don’t get to dictate how people enjoy their food. I’ll take your word for it that your mother is a great cook. She should want people to enjoy the meal she made as much as possible then. If for your husband that means Tabasco sauce, so be it.
He’s an adult. You can’t force him to train his palate, which is a ridiculous idea in general, and quite frankly given that you know he puts Tabasco on everything, if you were going to be bothered by it, why wouldn’t you broach the topic before she served dinner?
Hey, honey, it would mean a lot to me if you forgo the Tabasco tonight because this is a really important part of my heritage and I’d love for you to experience that with us as is. Why pick the fight afterwards for something you knew would happen?
cascadia1979 said:
YTA. Could his wife just enjoy being around her husband and let him eat dishes the way he thinks they were meant to be eaten? Sorry to paraphrase you here but you picking a fight with him over this is completely ridiculous. It's a harmless quirk. We all have harmless quirks.
Partners in a marriage do not pick fights over harmless quirks. That is a road that leads to an unhappy marriage. Leave him be and let him put Tabasco sauce on whatever he wants.
AvalonWood said:
YTA. Your husband has the right to enjoy food how he likes it and I agree with other commenters that if it is that big of a deal you should have asked him beforehand if he could at least try it first before adding the Tabasco, but to pick a fight over something you KNEW in advance was likely to happen is petty and childish.
Amazing-Dealer4787 said:
YTA. This literally has no effect on you whatsoever. After reading this I can honestly say you sound unbearable.
TemptingPenguin369 said:
YTA. I'm guessing this wouldn't have bothered you as much if he sprinkled in some salt and black pepper. And it doesn't seem like your mother minded that he seasoned her beef bourguignon.
I get your annoyance though (I made delicious marinara sauce once for a party and had to watch a guest put ketchup in his portion and I almost wept. I sucked it up because he enjoyed it his way).