In some families, certain recipes are treasured secrets that are handed down through generations and kept within the family.
So, what would you do if a close friend asked for your family’s prized sauce recipe?
Would you share it?
Or would you keep it private out of tradition?
In today’s story, one woman finds herself in this very dilemma, and now she’s wondering if she’s wrong for not handing it over.
Here’s what’s going on.
I (28F) have an old family recipe for pasta sauce that’s been passed down for generations.
My mom taught me when I was a kid, and over time, it’s become “my thing.”
I make it for all sorts of occasions – birthdays, family gatherings, and even just nights in with friends.
Everyone raves about it, and I take a lot of pride in keeping it close to the original.
One of my closest friends, Emily, recently asked me for the recipe.
She’s been experimenting in the kitchen lately and thought it would be fun to try making it herself.
The friend can’t understand why she won’t give it up.
At first, I kind of laughed it off, saying something like, “Oh, maybe I’ll teach you someday,” but she kept pressing.
Emily isn’t Italian and doesn’t have a lot of experience cooking from scratch, so I was a little hesitant.
It felt weird giving away something that feels so tied to my family, especially since my mom always treated it as a bit of a “family-only” thing.
I tried explaining that it was a family recipe, and I didn’t feel comfortable giving it out.
She got pretty annoyed, saying it was just sauce and not some “huge family heirloom.”
She’s not letting it go, and now other friends have jumped in.
She pointed out that I’d shared recipes with her before (which is true, but those were random ones I found online, not family recipes).
Now, things are awkward between us.
She’s been short with me ever since and even made a snarky comment at a dinner party about how I “gate keep sauce.”
A few mutual friends think I should’ve just given it to her to avoid drama, but others understand why I wanted to keep it private.
AITA?
It’s easy to see both sides of this, but some people are really serious about this sort of thing.
Let’s see what advice the folks over at Reddit have to offer.
As this person points out, it may not be much, but it is special to the family.
So true – family recipes are very sentimental.
This person thinks “no” should’ve been the end of the conversation.
Here’s someone who completely gets it.
Pushing a friend to do something against their will never ends well.
Plus, there are plenty of recipes readily available on the Internet.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.
