Woman threatens to divorce husband because he eats too slowly

There are many reasons couples get divorced; infidelity, constant arguing, a lack of sexual chemistry.

But one woman’s deal-breaker is one we’ve never heard of before.

He eats too slowly. Yes, you read that right.

There’s nothing like watching someone clear their plate painstakingly slowly, pea by cold pea. It’s tedious.

But is it really a leavable offence?

The woman wrote on Mumsnet: ‘Right, dear husband was raised by his dad and we’re in agreement on this (his dad, who is a chef, and I), dear husband is too slow on eating.

‘I’ve chatted about it to my husband and he says eating something fast loses flavour – but the record of a pie, rice and green beans exceeded 2 hours.

‘I’d like to be the cool chick and say this doesn’t bother me, but for a year, actually it does.

‘It makes me re-hungry after eating, seeing some delicious chicken thigh in a 2-hour marinated sauce, falling apart…

‘Sounds like a joke but we’re up to divorce on this. What to do?’

She added: ‘For everyone asking – yes the food is stone cold after 1 hour. I’m in all your camp here watching this behaviour (not saying rude to him because actually I’m happy except this).

‘I cook something delicious. WHY isn’t he eating it? It’s cold and too late. Why IS he eating this?’

We have to admit, dinner sounds like a painful experience for this couple or at least for the original poster anyway.

But the internet seems just as wildly confused by the husband’s behaviour as the wife is.

Of the nearly 300 strong replies, one commenter wrote: ‘I couldn’t tolerate the waste of two hours, or even one hour.’

Others agreed, while one person suggested the husband’s slow eating was an avoidance tactic.

They wrote: ‘Sounds like he’s trying to get out of doing things round the house. No one needs to takes two hours to eat.’

Another agreed: ‘Bizarre. He’s obviously doing it on purpose to get out of doing his share of chores or childcare. No working adult has two hours to spend eating a meal.’

Surprisingly, the wife said that her marriage is otherwise perfect, but his eating is ‘a bl**dy art to watch’ and she can’t tolerate it.

One commenter said: ‘Don’t have kids with this man.’

But, if eating slowly is his only crime, is it really that bad?

Others suggested there may be a genuine medical reason for his slow eating with one poster saying he may have Eosinophilic Oesophagitis – a rare condition that can cause difficulties when swallowing.

Various eating disorders were also suggested and the wife took it into consideration.

Another suggested it may be a controlling tactic. They wrote: ‘I wonder if this is a control thing. Is he sulky?

‘I used to go out with a sulker and he would do that thing where he would walk uncomfortably slowly so I had to match his speed. This reminds me a bit of that.

‘I know that you say that you go off and do your own thing … but he is still hogging the kitchen / dining room table, you can’t go to a restaurant, presumably you can’t have friends round for dinner (or go to theirs). A huge amount of time is going into his meals.’

Yes, there’s clearly an issue here, but is it divorce-worthy? Let us know what you think.

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