Pregnant woman snaps at MIL pressuring her to eat, 'I don't like your mac and cheese.'
No one wants to hear that their cooking is bad, especially a dish they've spent years perfecting.
In general, if you don't like what someone's cooking, the best way to handle things is to grin and bear it, or find a polite way to decline. Anything else is likely to cause tension and embarrassment all around. But some people can't take no for an answer, which makes things very awkward.
In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a woman asked if she was wrong for telling her mother-in-law her true feelings about the famous mac n cheese recipe.
She wrote:
AITA for finally telling my mother-in-law that her mac and cheese tastes terrible?
My husband 30m and I 28f have been married for 2 years, together for 5 years, and currently 6 months pregnant. We are very excited and blessed because I've had some complications in getting pregnant. I have a very good relationship with my in laws and if any of us ever had problem, we are able to talk it through. Except for one thing.
My mother in law has her famous mac and cheese that everyone in her family absolutely loves. I, however, found it disgusting on day 1 but I didn't want to come off as rude and ungrateful so I pulled through it without saying anything.
I told my husband about it and he said that his mother has been making it for decades perfecting the recipe and she would be deeply offended if anyone told her anything bad about her mac and cheese so I should just find the right moment to tell her. He for some reason loves it, so he didn't want to be the one to tell her. Which I totally understand because it is MY issue and I had to deal with it.
It's been almost 2 years of me pretending. So 2 days ago I've decided to just tell her. It was a family dinner where my husband's parents had invited us over and of course, his mother was making her so-called 'famous mac and cheese.' I almost threw up at the smell and I couldn't bear the thought of eating it, probably because I was pregnant.
So at dinner, when I was offered the mac and cheese, I politely declined and said 'no thank you.' My mother in law looked at me and asked 'why? You should eat. Good for the baby'. And I just went right out with it 'I'm sorry, but I don't like your mac and cheese. Everything else tastes delicious, but this is the one thing I simply cannot eat anymore.'
She looked so deeply offended and she literally snapped 'well, thanks for being honest' and didn't even look or speak to me for the rest of the evening. My husband was on my side and tried to speak to his mother, but all I know is that it didn't work because she has been cold to me ever since. What was wrong with the mac and cheese?
Her 'perfecting the recipe' ended up with this result: mac and cheese combined with salmon, kimchi, pineapple, seaweed salad, collard greens, onions, and garlic. I don't have a problem with the greens or onion, but the rest tastes so disgustingly wrong with mac and cheese.
However, the reason why I think I might have been an AH is because like my husband said, she has been perfecting this recipe for years, her entire family clearly loves it, and I tell her that her 'perfected and loved' mac and cheese is terrible. Am I the AH?
People had a lot of thoughts about the picture OP painted.
daydreammuse wrote:
This recipe breaks at least three Geneva conventions. That's not mac and cheese, that's a bio-weapon. NTA.
Immortal_in_well wrote:
I read the first paragraph and thought 'okay so is it a texture thing, orrrrr...?' Then I got to the actual recipe and went through every stage of grief at once.
NTA.
sentimentalillness wrote:
Me reading at first: how bad could mac and cheese really be? Me by the end: oh my holy infant Jesus and toddler disciples in the garden. NTA. The idea of stomaching that while pregnant is bringing my morning sickness back and my youngest is in grade school.
The_Real_Scrotus wrote:
'Her 'perfecting the recipe' ended up with this result: mac and cheese combined with salmon, kimchi, pineapple, seaweed salad, collard greens, onions, and garlic.'
NTA a million times over. That...thing...she makes is not mac and cheese. It barely qualifies as food. What it is is a crime against humanity and she should be jailed for it.
NotCreativeAtAll16 wrote:
You lost me with the salmon and kimchi in the Mac n cheese.
You get NTA for standing up against crimes against cuisine.
And OP jumped on to share some clarifications after the original post received feedback.
Edit. I did tell her that because I am pregnant it wasn't possible for me to stomach the ingredients, but she still didn't want to talk to me. Another edit. I'm French and my husband's family is Korean, so that will explain the ingredients.
I do enjoy salmon, kimchi, and seaweed salads, but it greatly depends on which dishes it's served with. And since I've been pregnant, I've even developed an aversion to several foods that I used to love.
Clearly, OP is NTA, although she could have worded things better to keep the peace.