‘What do you eat?’ I was asked the other day. This is not an uncommon thing to be asked by people thinking of cooking for me[1], but it's something I always have trouble answering coherently.

There aren't many things I really won't eat, so telling someone what to avoid is quick and simple. But sometimes people also want to know what I particularly like, and that's the bit I have trouble talking about. I think it's psychological: if I tell someone who's planning to cook for me that I like (say) parsnips, it feels as if I'm somehow morally obliging them to cook something involving parsnips, and that makes me uncomfortable because they're my host, not my servant. I feel a lot less uncomfortable once I've listed so many things I like that you couldn't possibly fit them all into the same meal (because then even my conscience can't believe I'm placing a detailed order), but getting over the initial hurdle is really hard.

On the other hand, if I'm not actually talking to someone who's imminently planning to cook for me, I'm perfectly capable of going on for ages about what I do and don't like to eat. I did this into a text editor yesterday, as an exercise, and I now have a three-page document describing my food tastes in ludicrous detail – which probably means it isn't suitable to be waved at people who ask me this question, because now there's so much of it that they'd lose the will to live half way through!

I wonder what a sensible solution is to this dilemma. I suppose I ought to be able to take the three-page document and ruthlessly edit it, but I'm naturally verbose and ruthless editing doesn't sit well with me…

[1] Interestingly, I don't tend to ask ‘what do you eat?’ myself, when it's me doing the cooking. I'm more likely to suggest a particular meal and see if it meets with approval; but that's probably just because I have a rather limited recipe collection.