A friend of mine frequently goes out to eat with his mom. He typically posts a picture of their meal on social media. My small town doesn’t have a lot of restaurants so they’re usually out for Indian or Thai.
Here’s what seems unusual to me: they almost always both order the same meal. What they order may or may not change - I haven’d paid that much attention to that (but am now curious).
Thai and Indian dishes, IMO, lend themselves well to the game where you each get something unique and share stuff. This is why I find the same meals odd (I realize I am defining “odd” as “different from what I do”). It seems different than, say, burgers, which isn’t something you’d share. If I go out for Thai or Indian with X family members, we get X dishes to share.
Yes, it’s entirely possible my friend and his mom both want their own whole butter chicken entree (or whatever).
But generally speaking, is my family weird, or is his?
I hate going out to eat Chinese or Thai with people who do not want to order a bunch of different dishes and share. If it’s a steakhouse or other, fine, order your own meal. Your friend is weird.
Agree with Cathy.
Your friend is a little weird, especially when eating with someone close and with a cuisine that is well suited for sharing.
That said, if I go out with people I don’t know well. I get what I want. But if I go out with people I am familiar with, getting different dishes and sharing or trying is the norm.
Never order the same thing unless totally by accident at a regular place where the entrees are more separate. Definitely not at a place that lends itself more to lots of smaller dishes to be shared.
I obviously don’t know your family, but generally, posting pictures of your food in 2023 is generally wired, and ordering the same dish at a place you typically go to for something different, is even more strange.
Your friend is strange. You’re probably a little strange too if you’re hanging out with this dude.
You like what you like. My wife and I never order the same thing and we almost always share. Unless it’s quesabirria tacos, in which case we hoard our tacos.
I think it’s weird he posts a picture of his meal on the socials.
“My wife frequently asks what I am ordering…says that sounds good and I should order something else and we can share…it annoys meâ€
We talk about what we want, typically she does first because she thinks out loud. I ask her what she’s getting and I order the thing she also wanted but didn’t get. It works because we tend to like the same things and I get credit for thinking of her first.
You’re probably a little strange too if you’re hanging out with this dude.
He’s an acquaintance; we went to high school together. It’s a small town. We don’t hang out; he works at the gym. I do have a lot of respect for him. He is a nice guy and does a ton of community service. He is reliable, responsible, and kind. He has asked me out before, but I wasn’t interested so I politely declined. Which was a good move given that apparently we have different expectations when going out to eat!
I’m for sure strange in lots of ways; I figured we’d established that with the math geekiness and preference for decaf coffee I also drink alcohol 1-2x a year at most, celebrate Festivus with an actual pole, have 6 cats right now (one mom and five babies, they’re fosters), I’m a vegetarian, I dislike garlic, savory truffle flavor, and chocolate truffles… I can’t deny the strangeness!
We talk about what we want, typically she does first because she thinks out loud. I ask her what she’s getting and I order the thing she also wanted but didn’t get. It works because we tend to like the same things and I get credit for thinking of her first.
I think it’s weird he posts a picture of his meal on the socials.
you might be right. I don’t see it as terribly different than my friends who like to cook posting photos of their creations.
The Indian and Thai pics I am glad he posts to remind our local friends those places are there, and are good. The owners are immigrants, my mom teaches English Language Learners so when families move to our town from other countries she often is working with their kids. And it’s a VERY white community that can be pretty prejudiced, so social media photos that do some free advertising for those business I’m all about. I tend to post pictures of our meals if we go to those restaurants for that reason. I would not do that if I went to, say, the local brewery w brick oven pizza. They don’t need the advertising.
You’re probably a little strange too if you’re hanging out with this dude.
He’s an acquaintance; we went to high school together. It’s a small town. We don’t hang out; he works at the gym. I do have a lot of respect for him. He is a nice guy and does a ton of community service. He is reliable, responsible, and kind. He has asked me out before, but I wasn’t interested so I politely declined. Which was a good move given that apparently we have different expectations when going out to eat!
I’m for sure strange in lots of ways; I figured we’d established that with the math geekiness and preference for decaf coffee I also drink alcohol 1-2x a year at most, celebrate Festivus with an actual pole, have 6 cats right now (one mom and five babies, they’re fosters), I’m a vegetarian, I dislike garlic, savory truffle flavor, and chocolate truffles… I can’t deny the strangeness!
I feel like I should swipe right on this post.
I was teasing you about the strange thing. I live in a small town these days too and I can relate to appreciating people somewhat different from your own sensibilities better than when I lived in the homogenized suburbs. My ex was like me in all the most boring ways. My wife today is polar opposite, to the extent that some things I can’t relate to but I’ve learned to appreciate for its purity and simplicity. She would rank those traits you mentioned, reliable, responsible, and kind, pretty much at the top of her hierarchy of traits in a person worth having in your life.
She also started collecting cats recently and I’m getting concerned.
Dont go out often, I order what I want, I assume she orders what she wants. If either wants a taste of the others dish, we ask and try. Can’t imagine, taking 1/x of a meal. I order what I want. If there are 2 things I really can’t decide between, I might order both.
Now that said a group of about 10 of us went to a chinese lunch, with a rotating table, 1 foodie, 1 chinese guy they ordered everything, we all took a taste, it was more a family style meal.
So I guess, I get what your saying, but rarely go out with a large group, to an asian type place. If I am in a large group its usually my family (mom and my siblings) and I don’t want to eat what they want and its either Italian or traditional American.
I think what your really describing is just going to a restaurant and ordering family style.
Ah. Part of my math-related strangeness is missing when I am being teased / sarcasm. The pink font around here helps me out a lot.
I am strange in many ways though and it’s ok
She also started collecting cats recently and I’m getting concerned.
you should be. Cat litter spending adds up QUICK. That’s an opinion from someone who is pretty good at adding
Dont go out often, I order what I want, I assume she orders what she wants. If either wants a taste of the others dish, we ask and try. Can’t imagine, taking 1/x of a meal. I order what I want. If there are 2 things I really can’t decide between, I might order both.
When you’re indecisive and order two meals, that’s when you need to imagine x=0.5
DavHamm wrote:
Dont go out often, I order what I want, I assume she orders what she wants. If either wants a taste of the others dish, we ask and try. Can’t imagine, taking 1/x of a meal. I order what I want. If there are 2 things I really can’t decide between, I might order both.
When you’re indecisive and order two meals, that’s when you need to imagine x=0.5
I’m very into the direction of this thread
We have a campus restaurant that has good, but small, desserts and I frequently let x = 0.5 on the desserts.
I also drink alcohol 1-2x a year at most, celebrate Festivus with an actual pole, have 6 cats right now (one mom and five babies, they’re fosters), I’m a vegetarian, I dislike garlic, savory truffle flavor, and chocolate truffles… I can’t deny the strangeness!