Kitchen wars are a very common problem in relationships, whether you hate their food or despise their mess, most people have at least one issue with their partner’s kitchen habits. This can be even worse if you are in an interracial relationship. If your partner drives you crazy trying to surprise you with unfamiliar meals you don’t like, stinks out your kitchen with dishes they love from home, destroys your pans with their cooking methods, takes over your fridge with weird ingredients or simply just makes too much mess, try these tips and you might just save your sanity!

1. Compromise – Find out more about out the food in your partner’s country and try and find a few things that you are prepared to try; learn how to cook these or let them cook it for you. You will be surprised how much ground you can gain by meeting them halfway. Also explore other dishes that you both might enjoy and try and include them in your weekly menu.

2. Make boundaries – Compromise only works if everyone has clear boundaries. If there are things you find totally unacceptable (such as using your pans for meat) make these things clear, equally, listen to your partner and try to respect the things that they find unacceptable as well.

3. Create Rules – Having a simple list of kitchen rules is a really good way to save potential arguments. Sit down together and agree on a few basic rules. You could create a cleaning or cooking rota or simply make rules such as ‘open the window when frying eggs’ – it’s entirely up to you.

4. Make a Weekly Menu Plan – By discussing and planning what you are going to eat together you are far more likely to find ways to compromise. You could arrange a day when you are out where you partner can cook whatever they like, or find meals that you could incorporate some of their favorite things into without having to eat things you don’t like.

5. Respect Each Other – You might find what your partner eats disgusting but they don’t. If you have a problem, try and approach it tactfully and remember that some religions dictate what people can and can’t eat and you don’t want to appear narrow minded.

By trying to approach problems like this with the right attitude they should be easy to solve. However if they are approached in the wrong way they are likely to become a real issue in the future and possibly even cause you to break up. So next time your partner is being a nightmare in the kitchen, try to remember that you would miss them if they were to go and cook somewhere else.