Anonymous wrote:I think they were very rude (surely they could have just said “no thanks I’m full” or something?!) but I have also experienced that sometimes people from other countries have heard things about food here and are genuinely scared of it, maybe rightly or wrongly. I had friends visit from Germany and they asked me a million questions about milk (they have toddlers who would be drinking it) and were really scared about hormones and antibiotics and the various different labels. I’m also from the UK and as I’m sure OP knows, box mixes are really uncommon there so I guess they were just thrown by it. I know it sounds odd, but I also found the concept of box mixes extremely strange when I first moved here.

Anonymous wrote:We have guests visiting from the uk (I am also from the uk originally) and for desert the kids had made brownies from a mix, mainly just so they could be involved in making the dinner. Guests refused the dessert and said it’s bc it was ‘shelf safe’ and America does not regulate such products like Europe (eg emulsifiers). I am aware of this fact but genuinely open to being told that making anything from a prepared mix is no longer ok - I guess I didn’t realize?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they were very rude (surely they could have just said “no thanks I’m full” or something?!) but I have also experienced that sometimes people from other countries have heard things about food here and are genuinely scared of it, maybe rightly or wrongly. I had friends visit from Germany and they asked me a million questions about milk (they have toddlers who would be drinking it) and were really scared about hormones and antibiotics and the various different labels. I’m also from the UK and as I’m sure OP knows, box mixes are really uncommon there so I guess they were just thrown by it. I know it sounds odd,
but I also found the concept of box mixes extremely strange when I first moved here.

Had you never been down the correct aisle in Sainsbury?

https://www.bettycrocker.co.uk/product/devils-food-cake-mix/

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Anonymous wrote:Your guests are idiotic. Most of those substances haven’t actually been shown to be harmful, just suspected to be harmful (in large quantities and with exposure over long periods). Which means they could have had a brownie.

I’d phase these fools out of your life.

Adding to this… North America (so including Canada) is responsible for 13% of new cancer diagnosis worldwide, Europe is responsible for 25%. NA responsible for 7% of cancer deaths, Europe 20%

Perhaps some additives account for our obesity… far from established in the literature.. the main concern is cancer and we have less of it.

NA is responsible for 13% and Europe is 25%. Adjusted for population that’s the same.
Europe is 10% of worlds pop
North America is 4%

7.5% of the world lives on NA, 9.2% lives in Europe (Russia and Belarus don’t count)

4.5% lives in North America
9.2 live in Europe

As of 2021, North America's population was estimated as over 592 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population

So for the cancer statistics, we are carrying Mexico with us.

But Europe is carrying the Balkans and EE.

Stop using Wikipedia as a source

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/northern-america-population/#:~:text=Countries%20in%20Northern%20America&text=Northern%20America%20population%20is%20equivalent,of%20the%20total%20world%20population.

Anonymous wrote:Did you tell them the kids made it? If you did maybe the real concern was that they were licking their fingers and sticking them in the bowl.

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Anonymous wrote:Your guests are idiotic. Most of those substances haven’t actually been shown to be harmful, just suspected to be harmful (in large quantities and with exposure over long periods). Which means they could have had a brownie.

I’d phase these fools out of your life.

Adding to this… North America (so including Canada) is responsible for 13% of new cancer diagnosis worldwide, Europe is responsible for 25%. NA responsible for 7% of cancer deaths, Europe 20%

Perhaps some additives account for our obesity… far from established in the literature.. the main concern is cancer and we have less of it.

NA is responsible for 13% and Europe is 25%. Adjusted for population that’s the same.
Europe is 10% of worlds pop
North America is 4%

7.5% of the world lives on NA, 9.2% lives in Europe (Russia and Belarus don’t count)

4.5% lives in North America
9.2 live in Europe

As of 2021, North America's population was estimated as over 592 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population

So for the cancer statistics, we are carrying Mexico with us.

But Europe is carrying the Balkans and EE.

Stop using Wikipedia as a source

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/northern-america-population/#:~:text=Countries%20in%20Northern%20America&text=Northern%20America%20population%20is%20equivalent,of%20the%20total%20world%20population.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your guests are idiotic. Most of those substances haven’t actually been shown to be harmful, just suspected to be harmful (in large quantities and with exposure over long periods). Which means they could have had a brownie.

I’d phase these fools out of your life.

Adding to this… North America (so including Canada) is responsible for 13% of new cancer diagnosis worldwide, Europe is responsible for 25%. NA responsible for 7% of cancer deaths, Europe 20%

Perhaps some additives account for our obesity… far from established in the literature.. the main concern is cancer and we have less of it.

NA is responsible for 13% and Europe is 25%. Adjusted for population that’s the same.
Europe is 10% of worlds pop
North America is 4%

7.5% of the world lives on NA, 9.2% lives in Europe (Russia and Belarus don’t count)

4.5% lives in North America
9.2 live in Europe

As of 2021, North America's population was estimated as over 592 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population

So for the cancer statistics, we are carrying Mexico with us.

But Europe is carrying the Balkans and EE.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your guests are idiotic. Most of those substances haven’t actually been shown to be harmful, just suspected to be harmful (in large quantities and with exposure over long periods). Which means they could have had a brownie.

I’d phase these fools out of your life.

Adding to this… North America (so including Canada) is responsible for 13% of new cancer diagnosis worldwide, Europe is responsible for 25%. NA responsible for 7% of cancer deaths, Europe 20%

Perhaps some additives account for our obesity… far from established in the literature.. the main concern is cancer and we have less of it.

NA is responsible for 13% and Europe is 25%. Adjusted for population that’s the same.
Europe is 10% of worlds pop
North America is 4%

7.5% of the world lives on NA, 9.2% lives in Europe (Russia and Belarus don’t count)

4.5% lives in North America
9.2 live in Europe

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They were rude but that’s the kind of thing where as a host, if you like them, I would just apologize and move on. Now you know, treat it like a food allergy for them.

Honestly I would be so insulted that it would definitely affect the friendship. But while you’re hosting, you’re not in the business of policing them or arguing. Just say “oh” or “it sounds like you know a lot about it” or something like that if they lecture. You can still eat the brownies yourself. Offer fruit or something to the guests or just apologize that there’s no dessert.

I would try to sleep on it and get to a place of understanding that it can be hard to travel with anxiety and to vow to just support them and accommodate them while they visit. I would probably get 80% there which would be enough.

Op - one of them lives here.
I don’t think they are anxious. And I don’t think they are that picky (one is obsessed with Nutella).
Part of what makes it such a weird hill to suddenly die on. Like they were trying to make me feel dumb about it. Was so odd

Anonymous wrote:They were rude but that’s the kind of thing where as a host, if you like them, I would just apologize and move on. Now you know, treat it like a food allergy for them.

Honestly I would be so insulted that it would definitely affect the friendship. But while you’re hosting, you’re not in the business of policing them or arguing. Just say “oh” or “it sounds like you know a lot about it” or something like that if they lecture. You can still eat the brownies yourself. Offer fruit or something to the guests or just apologize that there’s no dessert.

I would try to sleep on it and get to a place of understanding that it can be hard to travel with anxiety and to vow to just support them and accommodate them while they visit. I would probably get 80% there which would be enough.