Most surprising dining request from a guest (at your home)

New Year's Eve...Made Feijoada,ultimate brazilian feast...Cooked for two days...Kitchen was hell on Earth...Had 20 people over...plus one(OK,the more,the merrier,but...)...One uninvited boy...Son to an uninvited girlfriend to an invited jack-ass who never mentioned the kid ATE NO BEANS!!!

When I first moved to Ft. Lauderdale, I had my inlaws and my grandmother over for dinner. My grandmother (whose hearing is not that great anymore) leans over to my mother-in-law and trys to whisper (but actually screams) "I don't like this weird food she always makes." Everyone heard her and busted out laughing. The best part is that 20 minutes later she went up and helped herself to seconds. We will never let her live that done.

I like my fish overcooked. Can you put the halibut (that I had just served) in the microwave for me and really, really cook it?

I like my fish overcooked. Can you put the halibut (that I had just served) in the microwave for me and really, really cook it?

OK that is VERY funny! Also I think it was considerate of her to use the Beano - when you weigh that against the consequences of NOT using the beano. Ha ha!!!!

This isn't a special request, but I thought it was weird anyway: My in-laws were visiting from Iowa (I live in Las Vegas) and at every meal I served my MIL would proclaim "This food is really hot!" And she didn't mean spicy-hot, she was complaining about the temperature of the food. I didn't know what she expected me to do, let the food sit around and get cold? Then she proceeded to dump Beano all over everything. Don't get me wrong, I really love my MIL but I couldn't get over her aversion to hot food. And when we visit them in Iowa, she asks me to do all the cooking. I don't mind, I love to cook and show off a bit, but even in Iowa I served the food nice and piping hot.

Ah, shoresdiver, but did she drink the whole bottle herself? I have had guests arrive with wine or beer that they declared off limits to anyone else. In fact, once a guest was offended that I "stole" one of his beers out of my own fridge. Ah, grad school....

Upon arriving, a guest presented me with a bottle of wine -- what a nice gesture! The gesture was diluted when I asked her what she wanted to drink, and was told: "that bottle of wine; it is one of the few that I like!" Oh well, at least she was honest...

I had a guest leave our daughter's birthday party mid cake cutting to go buy her daughter's preferred flavor of ice cream, which, apparently, we were bad hosts for not serving.

I once had someone ask me the provenance of the pork I was serving. I told them if what I was serving wasn't good enough McDondald's is five minutes down the road. I was with my father-in-law another time and I had someone tell me they couldn't eat what I was serving because they were on a diet. My father-in-law looked at them and said, " A sack of shit is a sack of shit no matter what it weighs so you may as well eat." Needless to say he was very protective of my cooking.

OK drbabs, I get it now that I followed the thread back to pierino's comment! So, if people think 'stuffing tofu in place of meat' is good vegetarian-ism, no wonder tofu has such a bad PR problem.

$5, really? Are you sure you aren't feeding the members of my synagogue? They complain about paying for food, too. I hope you're being well paid.

Drbabs, I didn't understand, someone asked you to serve all that tofu krap? I'm more of a 'When in Rome' type of person, learn to eat tofu like it was meant to be eaten which can be delicious, but it ain't gonna be a meat substitiute.

One time we (well, the SO) was a jerk or just overly vocal at a BBQ..and rightfully so.

The host was making BBQ chicken on the grill, and a big bowl of sauce the raw chicken was soaking in...then after the chicken was done he put the cooked chicken back into the bowl that was raw chicken was soaking in with the sauce.

The SO let out a stream of alliterative exclamations that are still talked about to this day:
"I'm not eating any of your filthy, vile, foul, salmonella, soaked, putrid, poisoned, poultry". Along with with some other colorful embellishments.

Strange requests when entertaining? Not so much. But as a long time farmer's market vendor, first for a cheese maker I was apprenticing with, now with my own business, I've heard everything. And I mean everything. For the cheese maker, one person complained every week about the CRACKERS we were using. I tried to tell them it wasn't about the crackers--it was about the cheese, but that was never a good enough explanation. Then there were the people who would come up to the booth and state that they hated goat cheese and then proceed to talk my ear off for 15 minutes about their dietary issues and health problems. I could go on, but I'll spare you.

Boulangere you seriously gave me a laugh...that was their last invitation and the helen keller part..I can't stop laughing...

Well, there was the person who asked me to leave a cocktail party at my apartment to buy her special gluten free crackers. This was despite the fact that there were four or five non-gluten dishes she could eat.
But my favorite from my grad-school entertaining days is when people RSVP that "maybe" they can come to dinner, as if they are waiting until the last minute to see if a better offer comes up. Oh, and then they bring a few extra friends.

Thank you all for a mid-morning belly laugh!

I am really enjoying this thread and can so relate to many of the responses - I especially enjoyed Boulangere's smoked salmon on pasta story! One New Years Eve I made an elegant beef tenderloin, which I sliced and served on baguette slices with a mayo-based sauce and a mustard sauce. One guest asked for barbecue sauce. I resolved never to cook for this couple again, but they are good friends of my husband so when we entertain these people I just dumb it down - burgers and hot dogs on the grill.

Bacon isn't pork. It's magic.

I honestly can't think of any oddball or inconsiderate requests. I'll make PB&J for my friend's kids if they aren't digging a rabbit fricasee ... I myself have ask people to feed me my beer when I had crawfish paws at a boil ...

I always ask about food allergies or particular dislikes. They generally reply "oh we eat anything". So I say "then my liver and Brussel sprout casserole is ok". This usually gets them to open up.

One thing that bugs me is the SO's request of "no Pork" not for religious reason he just says he doesn't like Pork.......except Bacon, Ribs, Ham, Ham Hocks, Pork Belly..

I think as a child he was frighten by over cooked pork chops---but he says it was because he was bitten on the ass by a momma pig at his grandparents farm while holding a piglet to castrate it and it left a scar. I'd think eating pork would be "pay back".

Each month I chef a community meal for anywhere from 15 to 30 people. I always have a theme, it locks my brain in place. There is a tiny but strident vegetarian faction here. Even though I always have meatless courses the militants sometimes insist that there should be one course specifically and exclusively for them. Recently I had one of these people on my team who DEMANDED that portobello mushrooms be on the menu even though it didn't fit. I hate those things. They are a really weak platform to build anything from. Today I met with a team member for my Bastille Day menu and she thought that we needed to include tofu for the veg hezbollah. Can you think of a French recipe calling for tofu?

15 minutes before they were due to arrive (first timers) they called to ask if they could come the following night as their brother was having a grand opening at his bar and they had to support him. It goes without saying that everything was ready to go. actually never spoke to them again.

While cooking filet mignons marinated in gin and served in martini glasses with an olive a guest asked..., are these filets boneless?

Hmmm how about French onion dip??? To add to the mashed potatoes? But I really like the food critics. This is really good but wouldn't it be better if....you added this or that!

"My husband does not eat any of this food"......Yep, no return invitation from me!

I am with you Boulangere about loving to feed people - entertaining is always good for a laugh, people being what they are. Smiled all the way through your comment

Where do I start? There were the neighbors who kept returning next door to mix drinks for themselves, as I only offered beer or wine. One of the same neighbors, on the same evening, sat and watched (and drank) while we all ate a lovely (at least I thought so) lemony smoked salmon over freshly made pasta ("I just don't eat pasta like this," whatever the hell that means). That was their last invitation. One friend, faced with a grilled fish salad just sat and cut hers into tinier and tinier pieces while the rest of us ate it. Another friend ate the filing and left the pie crust. A couple with a daughter the same age as our son (about 18 months), who couldn't get her to go to sleep looooong after our son was out cold, let her run around the table like the young Helen Keller. Couldn't get them out the door fast enough. The dining room looked like the aftermath of a food fight; the dog started the clean-up, and probably hoped they'd be coming back soon. Recently, at a dinner that I was serving outside off the grill in a series of small plates, a guest stood up and announced she just didn't have time for the "real food" to arrive. Nonetheless, I love to entertain. It's always a thrill in one way or another.

Pegeen, reading this makes me ever so grateful for my family and friends. I can honestly say that I've never had such bizarre requests from anyone!