You be the decide: need to my partner get started making an attempt new cuisines? | Food

The prosecution: Alice

We have been married for 63 years and are stuck in a food rut. It is time to try something new

I have been cooking for my partner, Lyndon, for most of my adult daily life, but soon after 63 many years of relationship, I want to spice our foods up. He’s a pretty very simple eater – he likes cottage pies, roasts with meat and two veg – but I’m acquiring bored of all that. I’m facing a bit of resistance, though.

I’ve acquired substances like Thai combined spices, but I seldom use them as Lyndon kicks up a fuss. Curry does not pass his lips – he seriously dislikes it. He also hates pasta.

I try to really encourage him to take in foodstuff from all around the earth, but he just says: “I’m not ingesting that rubbish.” It’s very slender-minded. He’s also not fond of quiches or lasagne. He likes me to make a large amount of roasts with potatoes, beetroot, cabbage and tomatoes from our garden. He states: “English food is the greatest.” But I generally say: “There’s a lot more out there.”

Lately I have been sneaking a little bit of cayenne pepper into the mince when I make a shepherd’s pie. Lyndon enjoys it. He will say, “That was tasty,” which I find amusing. I’m 83 now and over the decades I’ve acquired a variety of strategies to be sneaky in our marriage.

I will test a thing new when we eat out, but Lyndon will usually adhere to what he appreciates. A single time in a restaurant, he sent back a turkey steak for the reason that it was as well spicy. He produced a scene, which I found uncomfortable.

We both try to eat in a different way now when compared to when we fulfilled in 1955. I have come to be much more adventurous, but Lyndon has gone the reverse way. We were being just kids when the second planet war finished, but rationing went on for many years. Nobody understood what pizza was. Over the a long time there has been a food stuff revolution with interesting cuisines accessible all over the place, which I really like.

I’ve acquired Lyndon into frozen pizzas and now he thinks they are really tasty – but he does not like them as well frequently. When I talk to him what he likes for dinner, he suggests: “Cook no matter what is easiest.” But if I provide up a lasagne, there is a likelihood he will get into a huff. It’s not value the argument. Lyndon needs to broaden his palate.

The defence: Lyndon

I’m 87 and like standard British dishes. I really do not enjoy spicy food stuff, so what is the position in altering now?

Standard British foods is my favorite delicacies. I never will need my dishes to be of a ridiculously substantial common but I like what I like. I’m 87, so truly, at my age, what’s the issue in changing?

I’m not 1 for curry. I experienced it a few of moments and I just can’t deal with the spice, even when it’s gentle. I like my foodstuff seasoned but not far too substantially. I don’t want issues to be fully bland but I never like way too many spices or herbs. If we are ingesting out and I have to foot the bill for one thing I didn’t take pleasure in, I’ll be incredibly aggravated. The time I despatched back the spicy turkey steak at a cafe was justified – it was inedible, you couldn’t style the meat. I know Alice was ashamed but which is just how I am.

I really do not concur with Alice that I’m a fussy or tedious eater. As soon as we went absent to Scotland and finished up at a Thai cafe, exactly where the food stuff was great. I normally adhere to what I know, but on that occasion, I felt extra adventurous. That doesn’t materialize extremely often, though.

Alice enjoys taking in distinct cuisines. Which is fine we can every single do what we like exterior the home. Within it, I consider we need to adhere to what we’ve often completed.

Each individual working day we have a pudding and I constantly say to Alice, “Make what ever is easiest”: apple pies, rice pudding, crumbles. I’m not fussy. We have been fortunate with our wellbeing so much and I place that down to eating a varied but conventional British food plan. Why take care of what’s not damaged?

I never consider I’m difficult to cater for. I seldom quibble. If Alice serves a quiche or pasta, I may complain mainly because I uncover individuals dishes dull and insubstantial. I want meat and two veg as it is additional interesting and balanced.

There are occasions when Alice doesn’t occur up to scratch with her cooking, but I will not say anything. We have been married so long there is no point. And I never head the occasional lasagne or pizza these times.

Immediately after 63 years, you’re so set in your strategies. I won’t be altering my palate. I’m rather joyful with the rut we’ve discovered ourselves in.

The jury of Guardian readers

Is Alice appropriate to consider to spice up their food?

At 87, Lyndon can be excused for currently being a bit established in his approaches. Alice is definitely a lot more adventurous. Nonetheless, I imagine, from bitter practical experience, that it is not a situation of him disliking spicy foodstuff it’s that he just can’t try to eat it. I’m heading to have to facet with the defence.
Martin, 70

Lyndon is guilty just for saying “meat and two veg is additional interesting”. Much more exciting than what, exactly – watching paint dry? He is blessed plenty of to have had Alice prepare dinner for him for 63 yrs, so if her cooking is not up to scratch, it’s possible it is time he took a turn in the kitchen area.
Asiya, 28

The “rut” to which Lyndon refers is a person in which each get-togethers are confined. Alice treats him as a recalcitrant boy or girl, and Lyndon has not joined the 21st century in phrases of believing in “a woman’s place”! A wake-up simply call is required for equally – age refusing to bestow knowledge.
Jane, 77

Lyndon is responsible. Right after 63 a long time, Alice ought to be permitted to cook dinner what she likes, and the simple fact that she’s been dosing his food items with spices undetected is a guaranteed signal that he’s just getting unnecessarily cranky. He’s really lucky she hasn’t dosed him with something else.
Shubhangi, 35

I can see each sides. Nonetheless, building a scene in a cafe for the food stuff not staying to your flavor, and his comment about her cooking not usually becoming up to scratch, explain to me a great deal. Lyndon is responsible and need to master how to cook dinner.
Tracy, 54

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You be the decide

So now you can be the decide, click on on the poll beneath and inform us: should really Lyndon commence seeking new cuisines?

We’ll share the results on subsequent week’s You be the decide.

The poll will close on 31 March at 9AM BST

Final week’s final result

We questioned if Jerome really should get started cleaning his cat’s litter tray and not usually depart it for his lover, Erica.

73% of you mentioned no – Jerome is innocent
27% of you stated indeed – Jerome is responsible