An 18-year-old who is tired of his mom’s cooking feels like he’s running out of options and might go on a hunger strike. Taking to Reddit to vent about his situation, he explained that he was raised by a 54-year-old single mom who typically cooks rice or roti and some variation of dal (Indian lentil curry). He doesn’t think of himself as a picky eater, but he doesn’t enjoy Indian food.
The post sparked a ton of backlash from people who told the young man that he’s “an adult” who can make his own food, get a job and buy food, or move out.
The 18-year-old explained why he doesn’t like his mom’s cooking.
“For many years I’ve complained about how repetitive the food that she gives me is,” the teen wrote on Reddit. He explained that his mom cooks the same foods for each meal every day and has been doing so throughout his life. At this point, he’s beyond sick of eating the same things every day.
It seems that his issue is not just with his mom’s cooking but with his country’s cuisine as a whole. “It lacks any kind of nutrition or calories,” he complained in his post. “I keep bugging her to try and make foods from different cuisines but she really wont budge and I just cannot have this sh—y f—ing food any longer. It’s tasteless. Indian cuisine sucks. I frequently day dream about being born in a different country that has better staple food sources.”
In spite of his protests, his mom ‘won’t budge.’
It sounds like the son has raised these concerns with his mom multiple times, but she continues to make the same food. In the post, the young man concluded, “I’ve decided to go on a hunger strike until she decides to put more effort in the food.”
To many Redditors, the post came across as extremely “entitled” and the solution seemed obvious: Learn to cook, make your own food, and stop depending on your mom. In a comment, the 18-year-old clarified that his mom doesn’t want him to cook because she wants him to focus on his studies. Still, that detail didn’t seem to alter most people’s opinions. The young man received tons of comments like, “You are more than old enough to make your own food.”
One person wrote, “You’re 18. Your mom can’t tell you not to cook. If you want to be treated like an adult, you gotta start acting like an adult. What your mom thinks, should no longer be the deciding factor in what you do.”
“Her not letting you cook is not an excuse,” another person added. “You are an adult. Time to start making your own money and paying for your own stuff or being thankful that someone else is wiping your a– for you.”
Others, however, pointed out that the criticism lacked nuance.
Much of the criticism seemed to be rooted in US norms and assumptions about maturity, independence, and adulthood. In response to the many people who said the teen is in the wrong because he “can move out,” someone wrote, “People are just completely ignorant. He is clearly not from a Western country, yet they try to apply Western rules.”
Although the solution might not be as simple as some Redditors were suggesting, people still didn’t think a “hunger strike” seemed like the right approach.
“Your food situation does seem annoying, but a hunger strike is unlikely to be the solution,” one person wrote. “But your general disregard for Indian cuisine makes you appear to be an unreliable narrator anyway.”
Another person shared that they “understand the Indian parental pressure of don’t do anything that’s not studying” but still think the 18-year-old is wrong for going on a hunger strike and “criticising her cooking when you aren’t capable of cooking for yourself as an adult.”
Someone else called the son “ungrateful and dramatic” and urged him to talk to his mom. “Calling your own culture’s food “sh—y” is rude,” the person wrote. “Talk to her, don’t starve yourself.”
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