and instead want to tell you long and descriptive stories of their gastrointestinal distress when they eat food X

I find that people who don't realize how much you DON'T want to hear about their GI issues in graphic detail over lunch tend to lack other social filters as well.

Beans, beans the magical fruit the more you eat the more you DESTROY THEIR SOULS!

Beans, beans the magical fruit the more you eat the more you DESTROY THEIR SOULS!

This is taking me to a Beangelus place.

Beans in leather pants?

Favas.

Favas.

With a nice chianti and a census-takers liver.

This last nurse was *so* (So) rocking that she even let me dictate where in the IV bag feed line she gave me the dilaudid. I don't know why she was so awesome, but thank you, lady.

Did you find out what her schedule is like?

I don't have any food issues other than what I prefer not to eat, and I loathe going to lunch with colleagues/acquaintances just because I don't want to talk about it. And everyone wants to go to family style places and I'm like "no". There is nothing more annoying to me than having to discuss my food preferences with someone during a meal. I don't mean talking about great food, or how great the meal is, but the ordering and the commenting on what other people are eating, etc, drives me BATTY.

I hate it so much that I don't bring up my preferences even when I should, because I just don't want to be That Person Who is So Hard to Deal With. And I know I take it too far, because my lovely neighbors invited me to their place for barbeque earlier in the summer (just the three of us) and I didn't pipe up with my preference for no meat. I brought over a couple of huge portabella mushrooms, which had been my plan all along (expecting that they'd be making burgers or something) and then I felt terrible when they'd made some really fancy stuffed chicken thing with feta and peppers and all of these great things. We worked it out but seeing that they went all out to make a fancy dinner I couldn't eat was a lesson to me. Erinn and Adam: "We live in California! Dealing with pescaterian is the EASIEST thing when it comes to hosting. Don't be stupid next time, lovely neighbor!"

Yeah, I think that's a little above and beyond accomodating, javachik!! I mean, I generally feel weird mentioning anything about my mushroom hatred to someone if they're making dinner--it's normally not an issue unless they're planning a main dish of mushrooms with a side of mushrooms, since it's just a hatred and not an actual allergy, but a vegetarian-ness? C'mon. It's like when my new coworker didn't mention she was a vegetarian til after we'd said "Ooh, there's a new brazilian bbq place, let's go there!" and gone there and she didn't have anything to eat and we were like "Um, why aren't you eating??" Dude, we would've picked something else!

Yay Perkins for no sentinel node!

I have been on the host end of inviting someone for dinner and not knowing they didn't eat meat, and I beg y'all with food issues to please speak up in advance (politely, and you don't need to explain, just say "I don't eat X" and any considerate host will cope!). I felt terrible serving my friend's aunt chicken cacciatore - a one-dish meal even, argh! - and she didn't say anything but after they left, with the dishes it was clear she hadn't eaten, and we felt so bad! So now when I invite people I always try to ask, "Are there any food issues I should be aware of?" Not that we have people over any more, because of the children.