This relationship’s on the chopping block.
There are plenty of “icks” — or unattractive qualities — that could turn off a partner, but one in particular that has become a point of contention is cooking.
As some celebrities reveal they rarely cook dinner for their families — from Kim Kardashian to Brittany Mahomes — one Redditor shared his culinary quandary online after admitting his wife, 31, is so deeply useless in the kitchen, he wonders if she’s doing it on purpose.
“Overall, things are great, but one thing that’s been bugging me is that my wife doesn’t know how to cook — at all,” the 28-year-old man wrote in the popular Reddit forum, “Am I The A–hole?”
“I’ve always been the one to handle meals, which I was fine with in the beginning because I enjoy cooking.”
Now, however, he said it has become a burden. He’s forced to prepare a meal after “a long day at work” while his wife lounges around the house. Despite his best attempts to teach her how to cook, “she is really bad at it,” he said.
According to the original poster, she has tried to cut strawberries with the stems still on, and has “literally f—ed up mac and cheese, like the box stuff.” He admitted in the comments that he didn’t know she couldn’t cook before getting married and “can’t tell if she is doing it on purpose,” calling it a “deal breaker.”
“She refuses to cook and claims there is nothing wrong with not being able to cook,” he continued. “It’s been an ongoing issue between us.”
The issue came to a head when his mom came over for dinner and offered her help preparing for food, handing the wife a knife to cut up fruit who “couldn’t figure out how to hold it properly.”
“My mom watched her fail to cut the fruit and then blurted out, ‘It’s honestly kind of pathetic that you don’t even know how to cut a piece of fruit at your age,’” the man wrote, explaining that, after his mom left, his wife was angry that he “didn’t defend her” and “embarrassed her.”
“She is literally older than me and can’t hold a knife properly,” he continued, adding that his wife now thinks he’s “a huge jerk.” “She told me that is not the point and I needed to defend her and it’s not her fault she is bad at cooking.”
While some Reddit users believed that he should have at least defended her against his mom’s comments, most agreed that the wife should be able to prepare basic meals — mac and cheese, grilled cheese, pasta — and know how to cut produce.
“Every adult should know basic cooking skills in order to feed themselves, such as using a knife safely to cut fruit,” wrote one person. “She had this coming to her one way or another, honestly.”
“Your wife should at least know how to cut fruit and some basic dishes. She seems lazy by not even trying or asking how to go about things if she really doesn’t know,” another person chimed in.
“It is not hard to boil pasta, heat up sauce, meatballs, etc. It’s not hard to make a lot of simple dishes with a minimal amount of instruction,” someone else wrote. “Being able to feed yourself past microwave dinners and fast food is an important life skill that she refuses to even try to manage.”
The original creator said he believes “this is weaponized incompetence” and plans to go to marriage counseling and cooking classes with his wife.
“If things don’t change I will be out,” he added. “I will make this very clear.”
While it seems dramatic, a previous Harvard Business School survey revealed that household chores can be deal breakers for couples. According to the study, 25% of participants said they filed for divorce over “disagreements about housework,” which landed in third place for reasons to get divorced.
And at least one expert responded to the viral complaint — giving the hungry husband the green light to do what’s best for him.
“Cooking is a life skill, and if your partner refuses to learn, then it isn’t your job to teach them, and it’s okay to leave any relationship you don’t want to be in,” Cat Hoggard Wagley, a relationship expert, told Delish.
“At the end of the day that’s supposed to be your partner, and that means teamwork.”
