Following on from ,’ not sitting outside’.

I hate everything about barbecues!

There are various ways of spoiling good food and IMO the barbeque tops the list!

I detest the smell - spent several years living in a block of flats where the BBQ was right under our bedroom window, and nothing any of us living on that staircase said persuaded the other residents to move the blinking thing down to the other end of the yard!

Agree don’t like BBQs, prefer food cooked indoors and taken outside to eat.

As a veggie, I loathe barbeques, the smell is horrible, and like watermeadow, have never been offered anything particularly yummy.

I can't see the attraction of BBQs either.... I don't like sausages or burgers, and I hate the smell and smoke from BBQs. Whenever we've had them (my husband and 2 adults sons like them), I've cooked chicken and salmon in the oven, and I've made a salad and a pasta dish as well as the usual stuff.

Excuse for the men to do the cooking? Mine burns everything so I gave up having them. Hours of marinating lamb kebabs, chicken tikka etc, all frazzled. Will never forget hearing my grandson saying ‘you’d better not let grandma see that’. They were ok about 20 years ago, now lost their appeal I think. And all that traipsing in and out clearing up afterwards?.

Daddima Me. In response to "anyone else?" that is.

I hate the smell.

You are sitting outside peacefully absorbing the gift of a pleasantly scented warm Summer evening. There is something so heavenly about an English Summer evening! The birds singing their bed-time love songs, the flowers' fragrance delicate on the air. It is a balm to the soul! Then, crunch an assault on the senses, the nose hurts, eyes sting, a threatening vapour, first of spilled petrol or paraffin, then the smoke billows over. It hits your stomach and hurts your breathing. A migraine pain stabs through your eye.

Choking, you leave your once peaceful sanctuary and go indoors, the evening ruined, violently stolen from you .

Only later, on going to bed, you find that you left the window open and all your bedding and clothes smell of burnt flesh as if some evil human sacrifice is being performed and that closing the window is too late but doing so still does not reduce the beery bulging rise and fall of drunken laughter and shouting voices at the BBQ party down the road.

How can people desecrate Summer like this? What kind of people are they? Do they have no soul? No tenderness? No love of peace or appreciation for that joy in the heart that connects us to nature when we are in her gentle moments, being held more lovingly than a new baby, wrapped in the kindness of a balmy warm fragrant Summer evening?

If I lit a bonfire on a pleasant Summer evening, they would probably lynch me.

My late MIL was raised in India and she hated the smell of barbecues as it reminded her of the burning ghats where bodies were cremated.

As indeed is what happens at BBQs.

I love a good barbecue/Braai. There’s nothing better than being together with family and friends and eating the delicious food cooked on open flames. The bonus being it’s usually cooked by the men! The smell as it’s cooking is the best appetiser going.

Cooking well on a BBQ, just like any other culinary method is an art, and as such, takes some effort to learn how to do properly. Anyone can reduce sausages etc. to part-charcoal, and those of you who dislike the medium have perhaps been to BBQ's where the "chef" (usually Dad), has no idea what he's trying to achieve. My own BBQ's are always well prepared and planned out, and I've had many compliments from satisfied guests. For years now, I've even cooked up to a 16lb Christmas turkey whole in my Weber kettle BBQ, a procedure first shown to me by an American Air Force friend some 40 years ago when I was serving in Germany with H.M. Forces. Always with natural lumpwood charcoal, always deliciously moist, cooked to perfection, and it leaves the main oven free for all the other stuff. So yes, I'm a great BBQ fan, but it needs to be done right.

Don,t like the smells that waft around into everyone else,s garden. As someone else said, if you don,t grab your clean washing inside it reeks. Not keen on barbequed food anyway. Would rather cook a meal indoors and take outside to enjoy in good weather.

I’m with Daddima on this. I hate hosting them. It’s mainly because it’s quite a walk from the kitchen to the only place that the barbecue can be sited. I traipse backwards and forewards with plates of stuff and never seem to sit down. When it’s all finally cooked,I don’t really enjoy it..
DH loves it of course. He’s in charge of cooking. It’s such a pity he can’t be persuaded to cook indoors because I would love to be made redundant from my ‘chef’ responsibilities!

I adore hosting BBQ's. husband is happy to BBQ for just us 2, or Sons, Daughter, in laws and Grandchildren. We have friends round for more formal BBQ's. Not a wine box, cheap sausage or shop bought burger in sight(smell). We marinade anything fish, meat or vegetables. Have 4/5 different salads, new potatoes (jersey royals at the moment). Asparagus, Aubergine and large flag mushrooms are so tasty cooked on BBQ. We still sit down to eat (large round table) on decking area (eco friendly as it is slightly raised and have had a fox family living under it in previous years) and have so many magical memories of BBQ's over the years with my parents and dear friends who have died, always toast them. I am determined to carry on with this al-fresco living/eating lifestyle as long as possible. We are in the South East so have fairly good weather this time of year.

I would rather a BBQ to a picnic ANY day! Now what is the point of THOSE???

I'm not a fan of BBQs. I have to be careful what I eat and to me a BBQ is to be avoided if possible. Is it a male thing? Men seem to be the ones hovering over it. The only decent BBQ I've ever had was in Australia - where it is more the norm as the weather allows more practice I think!

Don't get the BBQ idea at all, cook it inside, then eat it outside, why drag the kitchen out to the garden?!

I hate them, hate the smell most, especially when the neighbours decide to have one at lunchtime whilst I still have washing on the line. If I don't get out quick enough everything reeks of smoke. And I've never understood the appeal of charred burgers.

I would love a garden in which to host a BBQ !
I love cooking and can honestly say I haven't poisoned anyone with BBQ food (or any other food!)
It doesn't have to be burnt or boring, you just need some imagination ?

I'm also a veggie and dread being invited to a barbecue. I can't bear the smell of burning meat drifting from other people's gardens and usually hasten to close all my windows. One of my DSs is a former chef and greatly in demand with friends and neighbours to officiate at their barbecues!

DSiL absolutely adores BBQs. He has a professional BBQ permanently sited in the garden along with a back up one for 'just in case'. They have a purpose built area for outdoor eating. It all seems madness in Scotland. However, he is a fantastic chef and creates wonderful food, some of the best I've ever eaten. Not the usual stuff at all. Fabulous marinated chicken curries etc.
My main thought is that it's just an outside cooker. It could all be done in their conveniently located kitchen but that's not the point apparently! Oh well. I'm happy enough to enjoy the fruits of his outdoor labour!

With you on this one ! Would much rather cook inside and eat outside, no inclination for a barbecue whatsoever !

I really dislike barbecues. As a vegetarian, I hate the smell of charred flesh and I don't want to eat veggie burgers or veggie sausages or anything that apes the taste and texture of meat.

I remember my mother moving to a house that had a BBQ - and a garden away from the house that you had to walk to - that's another story!). Shortly after they moved in she was mad keen to have a BBQ. We all fetched up there on an overcast day and walked to the garden (and back again several times to pick up things that had been forgotten) and then it started pouring with rain. Mum refused to give up on it and we all stood ion the wet eating soggy half-cooked food from a dying BBQ! That's the life!

We had BBQ when the children were still at home just for the four of us and maybe one of their friends. Once or twice since they left we've invited another couple but they are not enthusiastic about it. We have since dumped the equipment.
I have never been invited to a BBQ

We love hosting BBQs, but then I am lucky that DH is very good at cooking on a BBQ! We have a big table on a shaded patio which is very nice for eating out doors and with plenty or room for people to wander off and children to play (My mother's house has quite a large plot of land so plenty of space) Also set well away from neighbours, so I like to think it doesn't bother anyone.
I will protest that the wine does NOT come out of a box!
I will admit to paper plates on bbq days - saves me on clearing up, which is my job as DH cooks the meat (the fact taht I do all salads, etc doesnt count) Lol