Guest eating snack straight from bag

[Anonymous]

I was raised in a poor household and the idea that someone would judge me for not knowing this rule is the kind of thing that has made life so difficult. I can’t even imagine what other rules I have broken and been judged on. I really struggle to fit into our UMC neighborhood because I am always so nervous that I will say the wrong thing or serve the wrong snack or serve it the wrong way etc. so many rules! So much judgment!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

NP. Yes. When we serve food at gatherings or parties, we provide serving utensils like tongs and big spoons. At the very, very least, people in my extended family would pour from a bag of chips onto plates at a BBQ. People don’t reach in and grab. That’s disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is so weird to me. Don’t people at parties and such put a bowl of chips on the table so people can grab a handful at a time?

+1 op has some pretty strict rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was raised in a poor household and the idea that someone would judge me for not knowing this rule is the kind of thing that has made life so difficult. I can’t even imagine what other rules I have broken and been judged on. I really struggle to fit into our UMC neighborhood because I am always so nervous that I will say the wrong thing or serve the wrong snack or serve it the wrong way etc. so many rules! So much judgment!

I grew up in a poor household in the Midwest, and when there was a bag of chips at the BBQ, you poured them from the bag onto a plate, or used tongs or a big spoon. This has nothing to do with income and everything to do with basic hygiene that was taught in health class in public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

NP. Yes. When we serve food at gatherings or parties, we provide serving utensils like tongs and big spoons. At the very, very least, people in my extended family would pour from a bag of chips onto plates at a BBQ. People don’t reach in and grab. That’s disgusting.

You’re weird. Not once in my entire 50 years of existing seen a serving spoon for chips or popcorn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

NP. Yes. When we serve food at gatherings or parties, we provide serving utensils like tongs and big spoons. At the very, very least, people in my extended family would pour from a bag of chips onto plates at a BBQ. People don’t reach in and grab. That’s disgusting.

You’re weird. Not once in my entire 50 years of existing seen a serving spoon for chips or popcorn

Oh, I suppose in my 42 years of existing we were attending different gatherings. Because I’ve seen that done in my family, at neighbors’ gatherings, at block parties, etc. I suppose we just run in very different circles. At the very least, the people I know pour from a bag onto a plate, they do not stick their hands in the bag. THAT is weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

NP. Yes. When we serve food at gatherings or parties, we provide serving utensils like tongs and big spoons. At the very, very least, people in my extended family would pour from a bag of chips onto plates at a BBQ. People don’t reach in and grab. That’s disgusting.

You’re weird. Not once in my entire 50 years of existing seen a serving spoon for chips or popcorn

SAME

Maybe tongs if they were already in a big bowl. Never a spoon. And generally the tongs quickly gravitated to another part of buffet.

[Anonymous]

The Midwest is a weird ass place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

NP. Yes. When we serve food at gatherings or parties, we provide serving utensils like tongs and big spoons. At the very, very least, people in my extended family would pour from a bag of chips onto plates at a BBQ. People don’t reach in and grab. That’s disgusting.

You’re weird. Not once in my entire 50 years of existing seen a serving spoon for chips or popcorn

The general rule is if it's in a bag, tilt bag and shake snacks out into napkin, plate, etc. If it's on a bowl or plate, use spoons or tongs. If no spoons or tongs are provided, use the minimal number of fingers and apply the you touch, you take rule. Of course house rules vary but this is a situation where there are guests and one must default to basic etiquette

[Anonymous]

How did the guest have access to the bag in the first place? Why weren’t the chips or pretzels put into a serving bowl and smaller plates readily available?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

NP. Yes. When we serve food at gatherings or parties, we provide serving utensils like tongs and big spoons. At the very, very least, people in my extended family would pour from a bag of chips onto plates at a BBQ. People don’t reach in and grab. That’s disgusting.

You’re weird. Not once in my entire 50 years of existing seen a serving spoon for chips or popcorn

+1

[Anonymous]

https://www.statefoodsafety.com/Resources/Resources/a-bag-of-surprises

There are a couple minor (very minor) reasons to not be completely repulsed by a long line of people sticking their adulterated hands into a single bag of chips. For one, the human body needs bacteria. Consuming bacteria can help build up a resistance to other, more harmful bacteria. In addition to this, salty foods can prevent the growth of bacteria. Salt is used as a preservative that guards against bacteria growth in foods like ham and could sometimes do the same for a bag of chips or a bowl of peanuts.

Taking all of this into consideration, it should be concluded that it is unwise to eat a food that has passed through the hands of a large group of people without apprehension. When several people get together in the outdoors to eat in the company of one another, it’s likely that contaminated hands are in their midst. This opens the door to possible illnesses.

There are a couple of ways to combat this practice without coming across like a total control freak. For one, at your Fourth of July party there can be a designated individual wearing gloves who will disperse people’s chips from the bag for them as they come through the line. This offers a service while, perhaps, hiding the intention of keeping others’ hands out of the bag. The other way this can be avoided is to put a friendly sign up next to the bag asking everyone to pick it up and dump the chips out instead of rolling their hands all around the chips, touching every single one of them in the process (that last part can be left out).

If you don’t want to do either one of those things, you could host your party miles away from the nearest toilet or set up a hand washing station at the start of the food line. You could also not serve chips, though that could possibly be the most un-American activity at your party.

[Anonymous]

Some of you have truly terrible manners. The very worst is when the host HAS provided plates, bowls and serving utensils and they are ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

NP. Yes. When we serve food at gatherings or parties, we provide serving utensils like tongs and big spoons. At the very, very least, people in my extended family would pour from a bag of chips onto plates at a BBQ. People don’t reach in and grab. That’s disgusting.

You’re weird. Not once in my entire 50 years of existing seen a serving spoon for chips or popcorn

No need to mention your age…Boomers have notoriously bad kitchen habits and table manners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so weird to me. Don’t people at parties and such put a bowl of chips on the table so people can grab a handful at a time?

No. I put out small plates and bowls for individual use and my serving dishes always have a spoon, tongs, or whatever is the appropriate implement for picking up the snack.

That is actually really weird to most people. You are an exception, so you shouldn't treat others as if you are the rule.