'AITA for losing my temper over a 'friend' secretly tampering with a soup?'
"AITA for losing my temper over a soup?"
_BoneBroth writes:
My girlfriend, A (24F), and I (23M) are ovo-lacto vegetarians and have been for approximately six months or so because she developed a sudden involuntary negative reaction to meat and some animal products. At best, she will spit out the offending bite and rinse her mouth out, and at worst, she will get sick almost immediately.
She has gone to her primary care provider and is seeing a therapist, but we have yet to know why she reacts this way. Any meat, from mammal to poultry to fish, triggers this reaction in her if she consumes it.
Even sufficiently “meaty” vegan products that imitate the taste and texture of meat too well can set it off in her. I opted to cut meat out of my diet as well, considering I do most of the cooking and it is easier to make us both the same meals rather than worry about cross-contamination. I have grown to prefer some of the meatless alternatives of our normal fare, and seeing her unabashedly enjoy my food makes me feel warm and content.
One of the worst ingredients that triggers a reaction in her is bone broth. I used to drink and cook with it beforehand, but nowadays I use mushroom broth and I do not notice much of a difference except when shopping, as it tends to be in stock at my local grocer even when the meat alternatives are not.
Sometimes I even switch out instant ramen seasoning for mushroom bouillon base with dried veggies if I am feeling lazy and want something quick. We have a shared friend, B (24M), who invites us and a few others, including C (23M), over occasionally for dinner and a hangout.
He is a much better cook than I am and he invited us over group chat recently, even offering to send a few recipes he had been considering making to make sure he could accommodate. A and I looked over the recipes B sent and a minestrone recipe caught our eye, especially because it has been soup weather and I had not had proper minestrone in ages.
We told him what we thought and he admitted it was what he would have chosen too. He sent a time and date to the group chat and all seemed well. The day rolls around and we arrive a little later than everyone else.
We get settled in and we serve ourselves some soup before sitting at the table. A only had a single spoonful before immediately making a beeline for the bathroom. As soon as the bathroom door slammed shut, C shrank in his seat and admitted to adding bone broth to the minestrone while B was greeting us, as he felt it needed the flavor and did not think A was “really” vegetarian.
This is where I may be the asshole. I laid into C, calling him, among other things, a f*^@ing idiot for tampering with food someone else made and a piece of s&%t for doing it knowing full well it was supposed to be vegetarian and making my girlfriend sick.
I told him I never wanted to see his face again and left for home with A as soon as she got out of the bathroom and had rinsed her mouth out. Now the group chat is in shambles. A says she appreciates me standing up for her but feels bad for “causing a scene.” AITA?
OP responded to some comments.
Ntooishun says:
NTA. A recent article talked about an increase in meat allergies. It's called alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), and it's caused by a bite from the lone star tick. I think someone else mentioned it also.
OP responded:
I don’t know if we have those ticks in my area but I’ll definitely bring it up with her. She’s pretty outdoorsy so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a possibility.
pgf314z says:
NTA, and you’re a good for not only sticking up for her but also changing your eating habits to help support her. Did she have COVID prior to this meat aversion? Asking because my aunt had it four years ago, and even the smell of pork makes her nauseated now (and this is a woman who’d buy extra hams at Xmas & Easter so she’d never run out).
My best friend can no longer eat anything with peanut butter, which is sadly her favorite food. All the other side effects have worn off, but the specific food aversions remain.
OP responded:
Neither of us have had COVID as far as I know (knock on wood) but I will keep that in mind. Yet another reason to stay up-to-date on my boosters!
What do you think?