Wow. Unless it was raw, it would never occur to me not to eat it. I have gotten ill after eating restaurant food (even high-end ones), but never after eating gifted food. And I still eat in restaurants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends. If I’ve been to their house and it is dirty and has cats everywhere, hell no. If their houses are clean and they control their pets or don’t have pets, yes.

I once went to a neighbor’s house for a “party,” and her house was filthy. FILTHY. The invite came several weeks out, so it wasn’t impromptu. She knew people were coming over. The powder room literally had feces on the toilet seat, and no hand towels. I ate and drank NOTHING, didn’t sit on the cat-hair couches, and left as soon as I could. I will never go back.

This exactly. Oh man, I had this happen to me, too. I was dumbfounded. It’s one thing if there’s something impromptu or someone drops by…then your house is what it is. But if you know people are coming over because you invited them?! Why isn’t your house clean? And why would we be expected to eat food from your gross kitchen?

Yeah, I have friend like this too. I will eat delivery pizza there and try to stay outside as much as possible. It actually icks me out to be inside.

It really depends--my one neighbor is a professional baker and her food is amazing. However, if I am going to bring food to a neighbor (for housewarming or new baby or whatever), I always go store bought. I'm a decent cook but as we see on this thread, people have different tolerance levels for home-cooked foods.

Anonymous wrote:Depends. If I’ve been to their house and it is dirty and has cats everywhere, hell no. If their houses are clean and they control their pets or don’t have pets, yes.

I once went to a neighbor’s house for a “party,” and her house was filthy. FILTHY. The invite came several weeks out, so it wasn’t impromptu. She knew people were coming over. The powder room literally had feces on the toilet seat, and no hand towels. I ate and drank NOTHING, didn’t sit on the cat-hair couches, and left as soon as I could. I will never go back.

This exactly. Oh man, I had this happen to me, too. I was dumbfounded. It’s one thing if there’s something impromptu or someone drops by…then your house is what it is. But if you know people are coming over because you invited them?! Why isn’t your house clean? And why would we be expected to eat food from your gross kitchen?

Nope. Especially if they have pets.

Omg, yes!!! I love the food from my neighbors. One is from Palestine and brings us the best taboulleh and middle eastern baked goods. One is from Alabama and brings us BBQ. One is from El Salvador and brings us grilled meats and fresh corn from their garden. We are from the west coast and reciprocate with what we can, but our cuisine is nothing like theirs.

We have cats. I chase them off the counter any time I see them jumping, but can't guarantee they don't go there when I'm at work. So if I'm cooking for anyone other than our family, I start by disinfecting the whole counter and sink with a bleach solution. Tie my hair up and put some kind of wrap around it. Wash hands frequently. I hope nobody throws out my food just because they've seen a cat in the window!

My friend owns a huge, long haired dog and sells baked goods from her home. She also happens to have a short, silent fuse in the way of a Queen Bee. So yeah, we buy that sh*t and toss it.

Anonymous wrote:Sure. My neighbors are good, clean people.

That is what I thought.

Turns out, the neighbors that some "whispered about" are much cleaner than those doing the whispering.

Consider the source.

OP - to answer you question, I do not limit my judgements to those without white kitchens, because sometimes those with white kitchens and grey paint, are the nastiest of all.

Yes, I have several neighbors where when we cook big meals, we bring food to each other. I'm grateful to live in such a friendly neighborhood with such good neighbors. Halloween was awesome tonight too! I love my neighborhood so much!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Anonymous wrote:I never eat food cooked by a neighbor. I thank them then toss it. How about you?

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Wow. You are awful! I am so glad you are not my neighbor!

My neighbors bring us food about once a month. I always eat their food. I feel bad because I am a bad cook so can only reciprocate with fruit, etc.

I definitely eat it!

Why toss it?

Do you have OCD? Too many crime dramas on TV?

Home made food is usually better than restaurants, and neighbors tend not to share their failures.

I bet you are missing out on some GREAT dishes.

Yes. I do.
We belong to several large social groups and frequently host or attend events with home-cooked meals. We have monthly potlucks with some of our neighbors (10 households) and we all are very good cooks and house-proud so it is a lot of fun. Of course, we are also immigrants from the same part of the world and lots of celebrations, great hospitality and delicious food is part of our heritage.

I think it's fine to eat or not eat your neighbors' food, and for whatever reason you may have. But that's separate from the question of whether it is okay to be rude to someone's face.

Depends on how good the food is. Some of my neighbors are amazing cooks and I would love for them to drop off meals. Others not so much.