Invidious Comparison Eating (ICE)?

TastyReuben

TastyReuben

Nosh 'n' Splosh
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I read a little article today about invidious comparison eating (ICE), something I wasn’t aware of, though I’m sure I’ve both experienced and perpetrated it at some point.

ICE is when you make something, others try it, and someone invariably comments, “This is good, but when I make it, I do such-and-such, and that makes mine better.”

I’ll include a couple of links to the same article, just to make sure as many people as possible can get to it:

'ICE' Is One Of The Rudest Dining Habits Ever, And You Might Be Doing It

'ICE' Is One Of The Rudest Dining Habits Ever, And You Might Be Doing It

Thoughts? Have you been subjected to this? Have you subjected others to this? Let’s hear your ICE stories!
 
I’ll add that the comments sections of those two articles are entertaining. :laugh:
 
…in seriousness, I [EDIT] DON’T 😂 [/EDIT] think I’ve been guilty of this myself as I try to be mindful that the host is doing their best. I don’t think I’ve been on the receiving end of it either, but then I don’t host a lot of dinner parties.
 
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I'm not sure if this is a UK/US divide but I don't think this is particularly an issue here in the UK. Having been on this forum for a long time and read lots of posts from US members, I've understood that there is much more of a 'traditional' style of cooking in the USA which is in some ways fiercely protected.

I think its different here because we're so eclectic in terms of cuisines and 'traditional' foods are rather fluid in concept. I suppose you might get somebody commenting regarding the best recipe for Yorkshire pudding but in general I've not found that people are convinced that 'their way is best'.
 
TastyReuben said:
I read a little article today about invidious comparison eating (ICE), something I wasn’t aware of, though I’m sure I’ve both experienced and perpetrated it at some point.

ICE is when you make something, others try it, and someone invariably comments, “This is good, but when I make it, I do such-and-such, and that makes mine better.”

I’ll include a couple of links to the same article, just to make sure as many people as possible can get to it:

'ICE' Is One Of The Rudest Dining Habits Ever, And You Might Be Doing It

'ICE' Is One Of The Rudest Dining Habits Ever, And You Might Be Doing It

Thoughts? Have you been subjected to this? Have you subjected others to this? Let’s hear your ICE stories!
Click to expand...
If I DO happen to do that, it's because the person is a pompous a$$ and needs to be taken down a peg. :laugh: I know a woman who is constantly expressing what I call "hamburger cheeseburger" syndrome. If you had a hamburger, well she had a cheeseburger. If yours had homemade pickles on it, hers had homemade pickles and all the other condiments were homemade as well, LOL. This woman was bragging about her shepherds pie that her coworkers just love and mentioned that she makes her shepherd's pie using ground beef. Now I never have made shepherds pie, but I have eaten it, and of course I had to say, "Well I have never had it with beef, I have only eaten the authentic kind made with lamb." I said it very sweetly in a "Bless your heart" kind of way, but yeah, it was a passive-aggressive insult.

I also think that in the forum, people are probably just explaining how things are done differently in their region/country, not saying that one way is better than the other. Also if I do something differently it might be because I don't think I can pull off a cooking technique or ingredient or I just have a strong dislike for something.
 
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My younger Sister, who does not, I repeat, DOES NOT cook somehow wiggled her way into our Christmas Celebration at my Mom's place back in California.

I had brought and prepared all of the food for most of our meals.

For Christmas Eve Supper, I put together multiple "small plate" items that I thought everyone would enjoy, seeing as we are all family.

One of the dishes that my Mother requested was Spam® Musubi, that's her favorite, I should make it more often for her ... My Sister takes one bite of your Musubi, grabs a wade of napkins, spat out her food, grabs me by the shoulders and gets up in my face... "From one chef to another, DON'T EVER MAKE THIS AGAIN! It's horrible!"

It took all of my energy NOT to slap her!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? She doesn't even cook, how the hell would she know what's good and what isn't?

When I recounted this encounter to my DH, he rolled laughing! He agreed, who the hell was she to say what she said?
I no longer communicate with my Sister...
 
kaneohegirlinaz said:
Yup!
That was the final straw, well, not really but after that Christmas, her contact has been removed from my phone!
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I get it. One of my sisters is difficult (to put it mildly) and we haven't had a relationship for multiple years, mostly because of the way she treated my mother when she was still alive. I do have her contact in my phone but it would have to be some sort of emergency that my other 4 siblings couldn't handle. And that's not likely to happen.
 
We have 1 friend sharyn in dinner club that's super picky. Always complaining and fussy also she changes her order as entree comes out. Shes my besties wife, it's so hard to not say anything. To me its rude behavior.
It's like she thinks staff are her servants.

Russ
 
In the kitchen that's basic conversation. Usually it starts with a respectful "I would do at that way, but yours is totally fine as well".
We try to work on each others efficiency.

You'll also see it the other way around, when you analyze the work process of other chefs and compare it to yours.
 
rascal said:
We have 1 friend sharyn in dinner club that's super picky. Always complaining and fussy also she changes her order as entree comes out. Shes my besties wife, it's so hard to not say anything. To me its rude behavior.
It's like she thinks staff are her servants.
Click to expand...
One day, someone´s coming out of the kitchen to say" Come here then - you make it"
:hyper: :hyper: :hyper:
On second thoughts, maybe not!!
 
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