Dining Etiquette. Don't eat it if you don't want it.

PART TWO

"Dear Martha, I know you cooked this meal for me coming over today but I'm not into this weird pimiento sauce, I'll just drive to B. King and order something to go, I'll be back in no time."

So in regards to my previous post on food that you don't feel like eating, I was recently at a friends' place for dinner. She chose to serve a pimiento based meal and I’ve always pretty much detested pimiento. I decided to put in practice my personal human behavior experiment and before we sat on the dining table I spoke frankly. I expressed my dislike and naturally offered to drive to the nearest fast food restaurant and pick up something to go. They were so shocked to hear my perfect solution that they didn't really had time to react before I left. I came back in time to join them at the dinner table. I tried to believe that the contrast of my carton wrapped food against their fancy pimientos would symbolize a truthfulness that would strengthen our friendship. There was a weird vibe when I returned. They tried real hard to act natural and I did too. My burger was truly delicious and it really helped me feel more at ease. I offered them fries. She didn't want any because she said she was on a diet but he took a few.

For desert she had prepared a delicious flan. She had a generous portion, I guess her diet is pretty flexible after all. By the time she was having a second portion things began feeling more natural. Maybe it was the sugar. By the time I left there was no trace of tension.

A few days later I talked to her about this and I told her it was an experiment for my blog. She laughed and confessed to have felt really bad but since I was acting so natural, she ended up accepting and secretly envying the courage it must have taken to be so blunt. Honestly, I envy it too. I did it for the sake of the experiment. I am not sure I could do it again.