Woman brings meal to mother-in-law's house for Sunday dinner for 3 years, stops after receiving text insulting her cooking: 'How does she not taste it?'

Ally Perry • Writer and Editor

Nov 10, 2026 6:00 AM EST

Since when does every family meal have to be a potluck anyway?

One of the best parts about learning to cook is that you get to share the results with the people that you care about. We all have to eat, and when it comes down to it, a lot of food is meant to be a communal thing. It can be difficult to find recipes for one for this reason. There are few better family experiences than being related to somebody who is a great chef and is happy to share their skills with their relatives.

At the same time, the blessing of having people who can cook in the family is not one that is shared equally. For every person who has a whole book filled with their grandma's recipes, there is somebody who dreads every holiday season because they have to eat their way through a culinary horror that is only just barely edible. On top of that, everybody has different tastes; what may be one individual's idea of food heaven could be their relative's nightmare. As if there weren't enough arguments to potentially be started around the dinner table, this only adds to them.

If you are dealing with a family member's bad cooking, there are two main ways to deal with it. Either you eat up and keep those complaints to yourself, or you find a way to take away their catering responsibilities. You are not obliged to put up with somebody's food just because you are related, but tact is important.

*_{A bird's-eye view of four adults sharing a meal at a table. Picture does not depict real parties.}*

A woman and her husband had a tradition for the past few years of having dinner at her mother-in-law's house on Sundays. She usually cooked something at home to bring with them, but things changed when she received a text that clearly wasn't meant for her.

Her mother-in-law was complaining about the chicken she had brought over, and when confronted, she told her directly that it was dry. The woman decided from then on that she would only be responsible for bringing drinks, but her husband and MIL were starting to get uncomfortable with the arrangement.

Am I wrong for not bringing food to family dinners anymore after my MIL accidentally texted me complaining about my cooking?

My husband and I go to his mom's house most Sundays for dinner, it's been a thing since we got married about 3 years ago. I started bringing a dish pretty early on, usually whatever I made that weekend. His mom always said thank you and it kind of just became my thing, some Sundays I'd spend most of Saturday afternoon on a big roast chicken or a lasagna or whatever and bring it over in a foil pan.

Back in September, the Monday morning after one of the dinners, I woke up to a text from her that was obviously meant for her friend. "the chicken last night I love her but how does she not taste it?? I had to keep sipping wine just to get through it lol you need to come over more so I can eat actual food on Sundays"

I sat there staring at my phone for probably 10 minutes reading it over and over. Then I screenshotted it and sent it back with "hey I think this was meant for someone else."

The mother-in-law tried to explain herself.

She called me maybe an hour later. "look I know you're upset but it HAS been dry the last couple times and I just didn't know how to tell you. I was trying to avoid exactly this."

I told her it was fine and I don't even really remember how the rest of that call ended. Before this we always got along, I genuinely thought she liked the food. I haven't brought a dish to Sunday dinner since. I just show up with a bottle of wine and eat whatever she makes. I don't mention the text and she doesn't either.

She's asked me twice in the last month when I'm going to "bring that chicken again." Both times I said I've been busy. My husband thinks I need to either actually talk to her about it or just start cooking again, the silence at Sunday dinner is making him uncomfortable.

The chicken duties had been handed over.

This past Sunday she made roast chicken herself and it was the first time she'd made it in probably 2 years. She set the pan down and goes "I tried a new recipe." I said it looked great. We ate and nobody said a word about any of it. AITA?

The situation was undeniably embarrassing for everyone involved, but it wasn't very fair that the only action the MIL took was to complain behind her back. Clearly, she was capable of cooking for herself, and her daughter-in-law's contributions were not always necessary. As well as this, she was still bringing something to dinner every time. She still didn't want to turn up empty-handed.