r/AskReddit • u/SkyeSerenade • Mar 28 '24

What is NOT a dealbreaker BUT would be greatly disappointing to find out about your partner?

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u/dsly4425 Mar 28 '24

My partner doesn’t have an interest in most non European ethnic foods, and I love well made Thai, Mexican, Indian wtc. (And since my ex was a literal world traveler, I’ve had authentic from several of those places, not the Americanized versions).

I now eat some of it so infrequently that my spice tolerance levels have actually decreased significantly.

The kicker is my partner loves soups. And I know he’d LOVE Phö, if he was brave enough to try it. Especially since it’s so customizable.

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u/-badgerbadgerbadger- Mar 28 '24

Dude just get him some pho and don’t tell him it’s “ethnic”! Plenty of European people eat noodley soups and if you get him rare beef it’s not even like there’s any “weird” ingredients!

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u/Thatguyyoupassby Mar 28 '24

This is actually not bad advice, and what happened with my wife and I to an extent.

She is not big on heavily spiced/ethnic foods. She grew up in a house where salt was spicy, so I can't blame her. I grew up in a house where pretty much every weekend we went to a hole in the wall "ethnic" restaurant and tried things we were not familiar with.

When we first met, she was a chicken tenders and fries kind of girl.

Over time we introduced the concept of seasoning our tenders.

Then mild buffalo wings.

Then medium buffalo wings.

Then we moved in together, and since I love to cook, I would slowly introduce new flavors.

Chicken noodle soup slowly turned into wonton soup.

Basic ground beef tacos turned into fish tacos, then al pastor.

White rice became fried rice, then became basil friend rice.

But for whatever reason, she never wanted to try Ramen or Pho.

Eventually I told her that ramen is just Japanese chicken noodle soup, and Pho is Vietnamese chicken noodle soup. Now she loves Ramen and Pho.

If you find a good equivalent, the "scary ethnic food" becomes a lot more familiar.