Bloody annoying: dining out with people who don’t like anything

Adeline (nickname: Eddie) loves food—lots of it, and often, both at home and out. Usually, that goes just fine, but sometimes it doesn’t. For example, when she goes out to eat with people who don’t like anything.

Fine dining with someone who doesn’t like anything: how to sabotage a great evening

Picture this: Athens’ greatest chef flies in especially to cook eight (!) fabulous courses for you. The most delicious aromas waft out of the kitchen, and the chef, as befits a Greek, is loudly and hot-temperedly barking at his team while he works his magic at the highest level. So far: exactly the kind of evening I like. Dishes appear on the table that make you instantly a little short of breath. Think: kohlrabi tagliatelle in a retsina sauce, tuna tartare with mastiha tears, truffle and bergamot foam. I go weak at the knees again just thinking about it.

So much for the good news. Because my dining companion? She doesn’t like anything.

People who don’t like anything: why do you go out to eat?

I had been warned, to be fair. A friend brought along his brand-new girlfriend, who—in his own words—was “a bit difficult” when it came to food. But when you have a top chef, the best table in the restaurant and think: how bad can it be? Well, bad enough that she literally licked an oyster. To check whether it was “really her thing.” Then came the whole performance: nose in the air, an impressive grimace, and shoulders visibly shuddering with disgust.

Watching someone be disgusted makes you feel disgusted

Very little ruins a fine dining experience as quickly as sitting opposite someone who doesn’t like anything. Because no matter how brilliant the dish is, if you have to eat it while the other person looks as though they’re being forced to endure an episode of Fear Factor, it all tastes just a little less good. Seeing someone enjoy themselves makes you enjoy yourself, but unfortunately the opposite is also true.

So when you’re happily tucking into a work of art on your plate and your dining companion pulls a face as though it’s raw organ meat, it does something to your enjoyment of the meal.

Eleven courses, because someone had to eat them

Admittedly, there was an upside. Everything she refused ended up with the rest of us at the table. And there was a lot of it. That’s how I came to eat not eight, but eleven courses. Eleven glorious plates full of creativity, flavour and finesse. My jeans are still traumatised by it, but me? I had the evening of my life.

People who don’t like anything: just stay home

Let’s be honest: if you don’t like anything, why book a restaurant with a chef who cooks at Michelin-star level? No one is asking you to eat everything, but being a little open to new flavours and experiences is part of the deal. Especially when you’re sitting opposite someone who has been looking forward to this dinner for weeks.

So if foam scares you, tasting oysters makes you gag and the corners of your mouth already turn down at the word “tartare”: stay home. Or order a plate of pasta at the Italian restaurant around the corner.

At the very least, don’t let someone else’s fine dining experience go to waste on your plate.

Also read:

• If you hate bits in your food
• Why some people shouldn’t be allowed to use a self-checkout
• The grossest dining scene ever in a restaurant