Internet defends chef after he accidentally gave Mormons alcohol

A man purposely gave a group of Mormons alcohol - but all is not what it seems.

In a post published to the popular Reddit thread, Am I The A**hole, the man anonymously dished out the details of the situation.

He wrote that he was a classically-trained chef and has spent a little over a decade training and cooking in restaurants across France and is an American citizen.

Five years ago, he met his wife when she was vacationing in France and they ended up living together in the country.

When he and his wife decided they wanted to have children, he said that she wanted to move back to her home city of Salt Lake City, Utah, so they could be closer to her family.

"When we made the official move into our house, moving in some furniture from France and some bought furniture states side, we had a bunch of neighbors come out and help us," he wrote.

"What was expected to take four or five hours of moving in and arranging and putting away ended up taking two hours as suddenly 15 people came over to help, with snacks and drinks and advice about the home and neighbourhood."

Sign upto our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

The man said that he was "grateful" and "surprised" by the act of kindness and offered to cook them a "grand meal" a few days later.

He said that some of them turned down his offer because of their schedules and children. Others turned it down because "helping neighbours is just the Mormon thing to do."

Despite this, the man did end up preparing "a 4-course French dinner for three other couples."

"They all absolutely loved my entree of Gigot qui Pleure with a pan sauce, some even asking for seconds of it. I ended up making copies of the recipe for them as a final thank you since they loved it so much," he wrote.

But when he gave them the recipes, they were taken aback by the ingredients.

"They didn't realize the pan sauce had red wine in it, and they are not allowed to consume alcohol because they are Mormons. They ended up getting very angry at me, saying I am trying to corrupt them with alcohol and that I should respect other people's beliefs and dietary restrictions."

"When I gave them the recipes they looked absolutely shocked." iStock

He said that his wife is "very upset" and believes that he ruined their "first chance" at making friends in their new neighbourhood.

Elsewhere, he added that he spoke about the issue with people and the opinions have been very split about if he is in the wrong or not.

"Some say I should have studied up on Mormon dietary restrictions and modified my recipes to match, while others have said that as the people with the dietary restrictions, they should have mentioned them well before the preparation of the meal to make sure those restrictions are met, just like someone with an allergy would mention it," he added.

People took to the comments of his post, with many also believing that he was not at fault because it is up to others to disclose what they will and won't accept.

One wrote: "Not the a**hole, it's always the responsibility of the person with a dietary restriction to ensure their food meets that requirement.

"Also, it's f***ing French food. It's basically seared wine in a wine reduction with a side of braised wine and wine consume paired with champagne. Oh and don't forget the wine for dipping."

"They did a kind thing. You tried to do a kind thing in return. They mistakenly thought you were aware of their broader dietary restrictions. Just apologize, be clear that you did not know and would never have used it/served that dish if you had known, and ask if there are any other major restrictions you should know about. Also: Your wife, she knows about the dietary restrictions since she's from there, I would assume? Didn't give you the head's up?" another added.

Someone else who formally practiced Mormonism wrote: "As a former Mormon, this is a regional thing specific to Utah Mormons; everywhere else members of the church accept that cooking removes the harmful component of alcohol and have no problem eating it. Technically, vinegar counts as a 'strong drink' because it's fermented, but you won't see them having a problem with using it."

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.