Photo behind couple's brutal public fight. Photo / Twitter/Bruno Bouchet
It's a familiar sight in many households, but while cross-contaminating your pantry staples is without a doubt an extremely annoying habit – for one couple it turned into a Twitter fight.
Bruno Bouchet – who is Kyle Sandilands' manager and well known as "The List King", a title earned for his controversial power rankings of everyday items – had reached boiling point over his wife Laura's habit of double dipping her knife in family tubs of butter and Vegemite.
To prove a point, Bouchet deliberately cross contaminated the pantry staples in an OTT manner and publicly shamed his other half, who is pregnant with the couple's second child.
But Laura wasn't going to take his act of revenge lying down, responding in a way she knew would hit him where it hurt.
"My wife Laura's quite messy. She's one of those people who keeps saying, 'I'll clean it up in a tick', which would be true if the definition of 'tick' was 'five years'," Bouchet told news.com.au.
"Laura's pregnant and very hormonal, so I avoid any direct conflict with her. I thought the best way to address the butter-and-vegemite-cross-contamination issue was to shame her online."
But when Laura discovered the tweet, things blew up, with Bouchet describing his brutal act a "mistake".
"This ended up being a big mistake, she reported me to Twitter and the tweet got taken down within 10-minutes on the grounds of 'targeted harassment'," he said.
"I hid in the spare bedroom for the rest of the day and kept on hearing my wife telling our 3-year-old 'your father's a bad man'."
The story over the pair's public fight over a topic many couples can relate to came to light when Bouchet shared a screenshot of a text message Laura sent him yesterday – sparking reaction online.
"Gosh I really like this woman," one wrote.
"She's reported you?!?" another said in disbelief.
Another declared the move "modern day love".
However, while it may just seem like an annoying pet peeve, cross-contaminating foods – even long-life condiments – can be risky to health.
"Condiments are generally acid or sugar-based – two very effective preservatives – so they don't tend to spoil quickly. But it's important to handle them properly so that you don't hasten their demise," a post on Food Print states.
"To avoid contamination, always use a clean utensil to serve condiments. Never dig in with your fingers. Never use utensils that have been used for other things such as cutting a sandwich.
"Don't double dip. If you like mustard and mayo on your burger, that's great, but use a separate utensil for each or wash in between so you don't cross-contaminate."
Despite having a point, Bouchet now admits he may have gone too far by publicly shaming his wife of five years.