Dear Dolores, How Do I Tell My Dad His Cooking Needs Work?

Dear Dolores,
My dad is a mutant from the sewers but still invites us over for family dinners. He used to have a cook but now it’s just him cooking and his food is edible to say the least.. and the most. How can I let him know he needs to do better?
– Just Void of Feelings

Dear Void of Feelings,
It can be very difficult to offer constructive criticism to a loved one. However, if your father is inviting you over for family dinners and you and your siblings or other relatives are joining him despite his less than savory kitchen skills, this presents a very solvable problem.
One of the best methods for presenting constructive criticism is dubbed “The Shit Sandwich”. Your criticism should be sandwiched between two compliments. For example: Hey Dad, it’s really great that you’re putting in the effort to get us together for dinner. Some of the food is a little undercooked/dry/burnt/etc. Maybe we could work together or take turns cooking. It’s great that you’ve done all this for us, we appreciate the commitment to maintaining our relationship as a family. When you surround your negative point with positive points, it makes it clear to your subject that they are not under attack.
If you are going down into the sewers to meet for your family dinners, I would recommend making sure that the food prep area has been adequately cleaned to facilitate the preparation of human/non-sewer mutant food. This may or may not help solve your food quality problems. Good luck!
Love, Dolores

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