This is a biggie for me. I was watching The Chew as I cleaned out my purse. Mario, I think, had made a baked potato casserole with a crunchy topping, baked in the over. There was bacon in the topping, so you know it was delicious.
As they each dipped a helping onto a plate, I was alert. This is the source of my pet peeve. They dipped through the top and all the way to the bottom of the very deep casserole.
I have gone to Thanksgiving dinners with a sweet potato casserole on the buffet table where we filled our plates. There is always one person who just scrapes off the topping with little underneath. Well, maybe that's okay. However, the person will inevitably manage to slice off a piece of the topping that is about 4" x 6"! Now, on a 9" x 13" casserole, that is approximately 1/6 of the casserole topping. The person leaves behind about 90% of the underneath. If there are 12 people present, often more at this one house, only a few people get any of the topping.
When someone rightly calls out the offender, the offender is all innocent: The topping was crunchy and hard to cut. My response in my head: Then why did you start your chopping half way down and did manage to cut a huge piece when you could have successfully chopped off less to begin with?
At a meeting, a woman took almost half of the topping of a 9"x9" sweet potato casserole. There were 8 people at the potluck Christmas meeting. She was the same woman I watched stick her hand up to her wrist in a bucket of chicken and stir it around in a search for the piece she wanted. At still another meeting, she handled cold cuts, all of them, trying to get a few pieces for herself. I pointed out there were forks for serving. She seemed surprised there were forks. I usually ask for something if I cannot see anything to serve food. I mean, who wants to eat cold cuts when she has handled the whole plate full, almost every slice? I quit going because she was always first to the sideboard/counter.
However, cutting off the topping and scooping it without the corresponding filling underneath is going to make me burst a blood vessel trying to be quiet. One time, the host did not stay quiet, but blurted out loudly, "Who took all the topping and left none for anyone else?" A quick look around solved that quandary.
Children can be "helped" or directed. But, adults?
Oh, feel free to scrape off all the marshmallows from the sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows. You can have mine.
Your turn
Does getting all the topping from casseroles bother you? Okay, what are your other pet peeves you will observe during this season of casseroles, desserts, and strangers or friends? Food pet peeves?
I share the same pet peeve. I hate it when people handle food with bare hands. I also hate when people scrape the topping off. Such selfish behavior!
ReplyDeleteT'Pol,
DeleteThis woman never gingerly touches what she wants, trying not to touch all the food. I wonder if she eats with bare hands at home. They don't even see how selfish it is. I feel like telling these people to take the portion underneath the topping they took. These casseroles are usually left uneaten after the topping is gone. Okay, I am glad to know I am not just being mean.
I guess I don't think about the topping but I do notice the same folks always go to the head of the line and often take more than their share. We have a lot of pot lucks at church- I just try to tell myself the person might be really hungry!
ReplyDeleteNAN,
DeleteI learned the hard way to just take a little bit of a dish. More than once I have taken a reasonable portion of a dish only to discover the potatoes in the potato salad are barely cooked and still crunchy, for example.
I married into a family of very big people. My husband is a little peanut in comparison. No matter how many people are in line to fill their plates, they take enormous portions. They don't believe in second helpings. And they don't care if everyone has a portion.they got theirs.
ReplyDeletecarol,
DeleteThat must be frustrating for the whole crew to be that way.
Pet peeves: using hands as serving utensils or using the same serving utensil for all the food; taking more topping than what would come with the serving; taking huge portions, leaving little for others, and then not eating but a couple of bites.
ReplyDeleteFor those reasons, as they truly upset me, I don't go to potlucks anymore. A neighbor told me at one her club's events they have designated servers, plated salads and desserts. They'd had too many of the same things going on.
Bellen,
DeleteI hate to get to a dish and find no serving utensil because someone took the spoon to dip into something else and left it. Or, someone just wants to dip something, but someone else is using the proper utensil so they get one from another dish. Jerks. Then, the spoon has several foods on it. It's a shame people cannot be civilized and share. I think your list covered all the distasteful things people can do.
That would bother me too! I don't to pot lucks much though, so I have not experienced it. Double dipping - yuck!
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
DeleteDouble dipping is on par with using hands to handle all the food. When I see people double dip, I figure the food is polluted. I called someone on this, and the person said, "We are all friends here." Well, I am not kissing anyone in the mouth even though we are all friends!!!
I don't recall witnessing such a spectacle, but I agree. Taking the top of a casserole is rude. And taking too large of chunk is also rude. I think my mother solved this by serving pot luck casseroles with the pieces cut. this made takers see the serving size. And she usually removed the first piece as people tend to not want to start themselves.
ReplyDeleteUrspo,
DeletePrecutting a casserole is smart. A person cut a piece off the precut portion if it is too large for them. When I took chocolate pound cake to a dinner, I usually cut the first half dozen pieces because people hesitate to cut things. And, I don't know why. Precut pies keep people from taking monster slices.