ottawa foodies

Simple question: do you share?

When you eat, do you give and take bites, or small portions? Or do you have a preference?

What about when you cook? Do you want your partner, or the person you're cooking for, to taste things throughout?

Personally, I grew up sharing food, particularly with my mom. It was always "Come here and taste this!" or "Oooh, that burger looks good, can I try some?". For me, it's second nature. My husband doesn't get this, and gives me the same strange look when I offer him cake batter, or a bit of my main course to try.

Defintely do not share. I grew up with parents that were a little crazy about food and dieting so I think that gave me a bit of a 'hording' mentality when it comes to eating. My partner frequently takes sips of drinks that I've poured for myself and it ABSOLUTELY drives me insane :P

We totally share: it's like getting two dishes for the price of one!

That having been said, if you didn't grow up sharing food, I'm sure it seems weird and/or icky to do it. Their loss, I say.

Totally share. In fact, when I go out, I try and gently force people not to order the same thing :) Mainly because I'm selfish and want to try more than just my food.

I am also one of the sharing folks and try to order different meals from my GF, specifically to gain a more diverse meal.

at restaurants, no. dessert only. if my partner doesn't finish her main course, i might scoop up some of the leftovers, but that's about it. ol' garbage disposal monty ;)

i prefer community dining (ie Chinese/Indian/African food) over sharing off of individual plates.

Cait - i'm a stealth drink sipper/stealer. drives my gf nuts!

Funny I did not grow up in a house of sharers since my family was more of the germophobe type. But I love to share and I really wish my friends would do the same. We had a casual working at our office a few years ago who was also a sharer so we would often eat lunch out together once a week. We had similar tastes so if there were two things on the menu that looked good she would order one and I would order the other. We would then divide each meal so we would each get half of each others meal.

i always share. plus sharing is a great way to get my kid to try something new. he doesn't want it on his plate, but he gets interested in food on our plates and wants to taste it.

i have a habit of trying to force people to taste my food too, though i like them to use their own cutlery.

My partner and I share and awful lot and usually negotiate what apps, mains and dessert we will have with equal splits in each. However, she is not nearly as adventurous as me and as a result sometimes the sharing is not happening!

Great topic!

To share or not to share...it's all depends on the degree of the intimacy with a person. I usually don't share food and it is not because I am greedy...if someone poke my food with used folk, I will lose all my apetite.
Sharing food with my family,I feel okay, but I don't want to share drink with anyone, even with my family.
I cannot share icecream no matter what. It is kinda gross!!!

Family, yes. Close friends, yes. Total strangers, no thanks.

Mousseline - hilarious that you mentioned the strangers, because we did have a stranger ask if they could taste the sauce on our dish once. in complete sincerity, they wanted to sample it before ordering. we said no.

i have also had strangers ask to hold my baby (when he was a baby), another no.

LOL- I once stabbled my father with my fork because he reached across the table and grabbed one of my jumbo shrimp.

I share but ask, don't grab.

I remember being on close to a first date with a guy who proceeded to grab food off my plate. I was OK with it but a little shocked at the start.

I only want to taste if somebody is raving about something- usually the raves follow with, "do you want to try this?"

My wife and I often share small samples of our meals at restaurants and we consequently try to order different things. Aside from that I'm not a sharer. Once it's on my plate it is off limits to you! And don't you dare touch my drink unless I'm offering it to you. :-)

I'm also a person that likes to taste many different dishes but not really a sharer(I don't take off peoples plates and they don't off mine either) More if we agree to order some dishes, we do, but then we just place it on our plate.

I'm not a sharer. Drives me crazy when I've dished something out for myself and then "someone" wants a bite or three. In my head, I've allotted precisely the amount of food I want for myself and they're "stealing" it. Kind of ruins the rest of whatever I'm eating, actually.

The only time I don't mind sharing is when eating out in a situation where there are multiple dishes ordered with the point of sharing -- ex. Indian, etc.

I wonder if "sharers" tend to be only-children (i.e. no siblings). With siblings, there is naturally competition for limited resources, thus making sharing less appealing. Sharing just with your parents is a positive experience; sharing with your brother sucks. ;-)

I'm not a sharer and I'm a middle child.

I don't usually care about sharing my food, but please ask and don't just help yourself. I'm also a stealth sipper. I've shared with strangers as well, depends on the context but sometimes it's just a part of the experience!

Agreed with Cait and several others on the drink sharing. Major pet peeve of mine to share my drink. Especially if straws are involved! Something about watching someone drink through my straw really grosses me out! LOL

Food... depends who I'm with. My best friend and I share food all the time when we go out to dinner, usually because we want to try a variety of dishes on the menu. What I do find annoying is when you are eating with a larger group and everyone asks "want to try this?" and then you feel obliged to share your dish even though you secretly don't want to.

Fresh Foodie I'm the youngest and I agree food was a bit of challenge with siblings. They always got there first and got more!

Oh. Drink sharing is entirely different. Unless it's water, from a water bottle, where my lips and your lips and tongue won't touch, then count me out.

I also have to add that culturally (Chinese) my meals were almost always communal. I've extended that to non-Chinese meals as well :)

I am the youngest yet I have no problem sharing. On the other hand my dad's HUGE vegetable garden was big enough to feed the neighbourhood and my mom cooked enough to feed the neighbourhood so there was no food shortage in our house-;) My ex and I used to like going to Maxwells during happy hour to order 3 or 4 appetizers then share them. I guess I just like the communal aspect of sharing food.

Snoopy, when you say communal, I assume that you mean "family-style". In other words, big dishes from which everyone serves themselves?

I see this as different from sharing off of one's plate (though, depending upon the serving utensil used, it may not be)

Drinks are in a different category, though usually sharing of alcoholic drinks is ok thanks to the lovely antiseptic properties of alcohol.

Dining expereinces where you order several "communal" dishes like Thai or Chinese dishes I don't really consider sharing. You're still portioning out what you desire and eating from your own plate. Everyone is not just eating from one giant bowl! lol

I should probably point out that I am what my friends call a "picky" eater a term I dislike. I prefer particular ;-)

I'm the the youngest of three and, growing up, would only share what I didn't like. Liver, turnips, head cheese? Help yourselves sisters (Sam, our dog, seemed to have the same taste as me and would never be of any help) - but secretly, so my parents didn't see. I'm from the school of YOU MUST finish everything you took/what's on your plate before leaving the table.

Now, I'm the opposite. If something I'm eating is really delicious, I'm totally into sharing it...but the utensil must be clean and dug into an untouched zone. Yes, a bit of ARness lives here.
And I still always eat everything on my plate.

Jagash, I beg to differ on that one. I caught mono doing that...

Ouch. I have never had any problems on that front and that is why I treat alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks seperately. That plus the simple cost factor; why share water or coke when it costs pennies to get another glass? A sip of scotch is something diffent.

Always been a sharer (oldest of four kids). Lately, hubbie and I eat our dishes both halfway through, then switch plates. Best of two worlds. My dining companions know my passion for food and always share - however, I always wait until it is offered and would never spear food off a fellow diner's plate.

I share drinks as well - I guess I am not too concerned about cooties - touch wood, I haven't had a cold since November 2002! LOL

All that being said, don't you DARE ask for my last bite!

Definitely a sharer, but I always ask and expect to be asked also! My preference is to put a bite or two on a side plate and pass it across the table. I'm not crazy about sharing drinks however.

Yes I share. Sharing is caring!