# Just drink the fucking ketchup **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 11, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849 "2014-04-11T04:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/141 "2014-04-12T20:58:31Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Actually, it’s reversed. He moved in with us so “I’m not his dad.” unless he needs $20 or a ride to work. I think he’s under the assumption that if he gets to aggravated that he can tell his mom to boot me out and live the glorious life. > > I’ve made up my mind that I will help him by teaching him to cook basic food. Stove on medium for 5 minutes on both sides then in the 350 oven for 30 min. After that its up to him. If he asks about salt, pepper and seasonings, I’ll go to the refrigerator and pull out the ketchup for him. While I’m sorry for your troubles, **Saint Cad** , I don’t see this ending well. ---
**Author:** ![SerafinaPekala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SerafinaPekala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SerafinaPekala)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/142 "2014-04-12T21:05:39Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You got two problems here - a 23 year old adolescent stepson and a wife who is allowing her 23 year old son to act in such an ungrateful way. The hard and fast rule in my house - if you want to complain about my cooking, you are more than welcome to cook your own damned food. I don’t get paid enough to listen to someone bitching about the food I put effort into while they sat on their asses. > > ETA: I agree with you about drenching everything I cook in ketchup - that is indeed an insult to the cook. QFT. However … teenagers have no taste anyway so let them eat wtf they want. Dont take it personally. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/143 "2014-04-12T21:59:36Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > My mother used to mix ketchup and cottage cheese in a bowl and devour it. I still see it in my nightmares: a sickly pink froth like the exudate of a gigantic boil. She never actually smeared it across her cheeks while cackling satanically, but that’s how I choose to remember it. You know who else liked ketchup and cottage cheese? Richard M. Nixon. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/144 "2014-04-12T22:01:43Z")
> [@SerafinaPekala](#): > > QFT. However … teenagers have no taste anyway so let them eat wtf they want. Dont take it personally. Especially 23-year-old teenagers. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/145 "2014-04-12T22:05:20Z")
I don’t mind that my 12 year old does not like what I cook and I would not object to her putting ketchup on it if that would get her to at least friggin’ taste the damn veggies. If she does not want what I cook she can, and does, prepare something for herself. When the older kids are home/in town? They might make themselves something or if we are eating as a family in some combination they will often help cook or sometimes make a meal. Of course if what I made was a fail they will be honest about that and if they need to use a bunch of hot sauce or ketchup for a fail, so be it. A 23 year old living in the house who is not sharing in the cooking has not been raised right. My wife knew how to cook; she just married someone who enjoys it so she does not cook much, has not cooked much, for a couple of decades. But she can do it. My adult kids went off into the world knowing how to cook and to experiment in the kitchen. This adult child _expects_ you to cook for him when he comes home late and your wife expects you to as well? Yanks your chain if you don’t? Whoa. Family meeting time. The adult child needs to pull his weight in the household, you are not the family slave, and he needs the life skill of food preparation. Your offer is to teach him how to cook (and do that teaching right, not half-assed) and then let him sometimes cook for the rest of you or just you … try to gag it down without too much ketchup! And if he unwilling to learn then he is on his own. If you can’t do that because that means conflict with your wife and you cave to that, then yeah, this is a bigger problem than a brat of a man-child. If the relationship cannot stand up to your standing up to her getting on your shit, or you don’t have enough spine to do that, then y’all got some serious work to do. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/146 "2014-04-12T22:08:12Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > My mother used to mix ketchup and cottage cheese in a bowl and devour it. I still see it in my nightmares: a sickly pink froth like the exudate of a gigantic boil. She never actually smeared it across her cheeks while cackling satanically, but that’s how I choose to remember it. What is wrong with you?! Why would you describe an image like that outside of a spoiler?! That was wrong. Just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/147 "2014-04-12T23:16:43Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’d also admit the unseasoned food. Tell him that it was late, and you didn’t feel you had time to make the food the way you would like to. Tell him that if he wants good food, he needs to let you know before dinner, so you can have it already ready for him. Spoken like the voice of true entitlement. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/148 "2014-04-12T23:45:55Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > You’d have REALLY hated to be around my cousin when she was growing up. She put it on everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. Including mashed potatos! Novice! I knew a bloke who put it on ice cream. Yes, everyone thought he was insane. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/149 "2014-04-12T23:54:06Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Most of the reason he’s living with us is to learn how to be an adult. How odd. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/150 "2014-04-13T00:09:57Z")
Okay, wait, to make sure of what I’m missing: in what ways is the stepson “showing disrespect” to the OP’s cooking _besides_ putting ketchup on it? ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/151 "2014-04-13T00:11:46Z")
> [@Rex\_Goliath](#): > > Hi, **Saint Cad.** Former professional chef, checking in. > > If you actually took pride in your work, you wouldn’t cook shitty food, regardless of the audience. Cook it right or don’t cook it at all. Get over yourself. One illustration of why I was considering posting “chefs” in the IMHO thread about which professions have the most assholes. You’re a good dude Saint Cad, and taking a pretty good beating here. I do hope things work out at home. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/152 "2014-04-13T00:16:32Z")
**Saint Cad** you had said it did not go well and that he is there partly to learn how to be an adult. What part of an adult being able to cook for ones self is a life skill, that adults do not get catered to, and an adult member of a household must pull their fair share of the weight does your wife object to? If he is to be learning to be an adult your placing yourself as doormat is not a very good role model. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/153 "2014-04-13T00:27:02Z")
Look, you’ve tried getting the kid to change his behavior. That didn’t work, and you can’t force the issue due to your wife. Okay. So your remaining options all involve your own behavior. You can: a: Let the situation continue as it is. Stew in frustration every time you find yourself cooking food for this person you view as an ungrateful leech. Allow resentment to fester in your gut. Experience the daily relationship fallout from behaving this way around the rest of your family. b: Decide that the ketchup thing isn’t really a big deal and stop letting it bother you. It’s just ketchup. Not everyone is a gourmand. He obviously appreciates your cooking if he complains when you don’t do it “right.” c: Stop cooking for the kid, period. Nobody can make you do this. This is a boundary you can reasonably set. You can decide you are not cooking for him at all; or you can decide that you will cook for him only within very specific boundaries, e.g. “I will make enough dinner for three people and I will save yours in the fridge if you aren’t home, but if you choose not to eat it, it’s my lunch the next day.” Or, “I will only cook for you when you are actually home to eat.” Or whatever. Pick something that causes you the least amount of frustration and anger. There is a parenting anecdote that I have told to several friends. I read it in some parenting book back in the day when my kids were toddlers. It’s really targeted at toddler parents, but you seem to be experiencing some similarities with that, so I’ll share it here too: A mother brings her toddler in for the well-baby checkup. The doctor asks how the baby is eating. She throws her hands up in the air and says, “She’s impossible! Every mealtime is a disaster. We struggle and struggle to get her to eat, but she will only eat food that is absolutely doused with cinnamon. It’s the only thing she likes! How can we stop having this battle constantly?” Another mother brings her toddler in. Same age. The doctor asks how the baby is eating. She says, “Oh, she’s wonderful, no problem at all. She’ll eat anything in the world, just as long as we sprinkle it with cinnamon first.” The point being, you decide what battles you’re going to fight. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/154 "2014-04-13T00:43:34Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > So, who am I to argue with the Master? 😉 I will! 😃 I’ve never understood the whole “what, you put _ketchup_ on _hot dogs??_” bit. I mean, this is **not** filet mignon we’re pouring ketchup on. This is a _hot dog_ we’re ‘desecrating’ - a thing made up of all the leftover bits of the assorted animals that contribute those bits. ISTM that whatever one can do to make those leftover bits more appetizing to you is well within reason. If making a relish of Brussels sprouts (ecch!) and putting it on your hot dog is what does it for you, then good for you. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/155 "2014-04-13T01:05:44Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I will! 😃 > > I’ve never understood the whole “what, you put _ketchup_ on _hot dogs??_” bit. I mean, this is **not** filet mignon we’re pouring ketchup on. > > This is a _hot dog_ we’re ‘desecrating’ - a thing made up of all the leftover bits of the assorted animals that contribute those bits. ISTM that whatever one can do to make those leftover bits more appetizing to you is well within reason. If making a relish of Brussels sprouts (ecch!) and putting it on your hot dog is what does it for you, then good for you. Indeed - a hot dog is a vehicle for all the condiments you can get to stay in the bun, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/156 "2014-04-13T02:06:14Z")
“Eww, you can still taste the hog anus.” - Homer Simpson > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, I tried to spice it up back in post #[POST=17279432]57[/POST] but that suggestion has been drowned in ketchup. > > Stranger I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/157 "2014-04-13T02:11:15Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I will! 😃 > This is a _hot dog_ we’re ‘desecrating’ - a thing made up of all the leftover bits of the assorted animals that contribute those bits. ISTM that whatever one can do to make those leftover bits more appetizing to you is well within reason. If making a relish of Brussels sprouts (ecch!) and putting it on your hot dog is what does it for you, then good for you. Well, to be fair, he was talking about a Chicago hot dog which is usually the leftover bits of assorted cows. ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/158 "2014-04-13T02:19:58Z")
Cook stews in a crock pot or casseroles or something simple for the family (if you want to). Then go find some foodie friends who’ll cater to your every whim and desire with regards as to how to properly eat your food. I’ve never understood why people get so upset about ketchup. I don’t care for ketchup myself, but it’s got sugar and vinegar. Of course there are going to be people out there who love it to death. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/159 "2014-04-13T02:39:38Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Well, to be fair, he was talking about a Chicago hot dog which is usually the leftover bits of assorted cows. My SO is from Chicago and about has heart failure when I put ketchup on a hot dog. Until I met him, I had no idea there were hot dog snobs. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849/160 "2014-04-13T02:44:57Z")
> [@BrightNShiny](#): > > I’ve never understood why people get so upset about ketchup. I don’t care for ketchup myself, but it’s got sugar and vinegar. Of course there are going to be people out there who love it to death. Yep. Love the stuff. My second favorite snack (just behind Korea’s choco-roll) is rice with kojujang, cheese, and ketchup. Great stuff. And just because I like that doesn’t mean I have no idea of “good food” or that my palate is somehow unsophisticated. I simply like the flavor mix. I like other flavor mixes, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-drink-the-fucking-ketchup/685849.md?page=9)