something to consider

[kaigou]

Was working on the db just now, and the idea of quirks in characters, and the fact that plenty of sites list "gluttony" but few list, or ask, why. I mean, there are certainly addictive personalities, and those who just don't have the off-button on their stomachs.

That reminded me of eating out with several friends, and being a bit taken-aback by one friend's almost single-minded intensity of getting as much food, as fast as possible, from the main shared dish to her plate, and then eating it just as fast. Her hand honestly moved so fast it was almost as though it barely touched her own plate before she'd swallowed it.

I watched this for several minutes, trying in vain to get my own chopsticks in to get some of the dish, before I finally said (in that half-joking, hope-I-don't-offend way), "hey, it's okay, we can always get more if you're really hungry."

She stopped, blinked, and then grinned (obviously someone mature/self-aware enough not to take it personally), and told me, "I have five brothers and sisters, and we grew up on the Rez. There was never enough food, and you learned to grab what you could before anyone else did. Meals weren't for conversation, but for competition. Guess I still do it, even when I don't have to, hunh."

I did notice that for the dish she'd ordered for herself, she also started into it with the same pattern, until something seemed to 'click' in her head that no one else was reaching for it, and then she slowed down. I should also note that she was not at all overweight, but just-right. I suppose her body had adjusted over the years to "food comes in fast"; she evidenced no reluctance in pushing away a half-eaten dish and saying she was full.

Just something to think about.

Comments

[kracken.livejournal.com]

That's exactly how I grew up. Jon used to complain that I ate way too fast and I would get mad and defensive if he tried to fork something off of my plate to share.

[crazy-toffee.livejournal.com]

I also eat abnormally fast nowadays. I can tell the difference between my speed and everyone else's when I sit down to dinner with my family or go out with non-teacher friends.

Conversely, all my colleagues and friends-who-are-teachers have this tendency to inhale food. It's not that I concentrate on eating like this, or that I don't talk... I just... eat really fast.

A teacher in Chile usually has 45 minutes to have lunch, technically speaking. In reality, it's much less. Between ushering kids out of the class and into the cafeteria, and finishing up early enough to be on the patio by the time the bell rings... lunch is a concept that has to fit in 30 minutes, more or less. Main dish, salad, dessert, coffee, and plenty of conversation between and during all of these. But, seriously, 30 minutes flat.

So, I scarf down food at record speeds.

[askerian]

Hee! I like this story/quirk/thing. ♥

I'm able to eat a full meal in under 15 minutes, sometimes not even 10. Usually I just eat fast because the time I spend eating is time I'm not spending chatting over AIM. Addict much? *cough* But then I don't really have an off switch either. As long as there's food in my plate and I'm not physically uncomfortable, I eat. Comes from my grandmother who babysat me and she would always go "finish your plate! Don't waste food!" I have this idea that wasting food is disrespectful and horrible, and seeing food being thrown away makes me winces. (unless someone went spitting in it or it's anchovies or something. >_>)

And then there's growing up with two brothers and alway fighting for the right to the last whatever yummy there was in the plate, and ending up equating "being awarded the last bite" with "mom loves me best." Oh sibling rivalry.

What's really annoying is I'm trying to teach myself to take smaller servings in the first place, but there will always be some food left over in the pot/plate/whatever (mom's used to cooking for five, but my brothers have moved out) and my parents will always go "sure you don't want more?" "aw, we can't put such a small portion back in the fridge, that's pretty useless" and "here, let's share the leftovers." And even when I say no it ends up in my plate and then, well, at this point I pretty much just feel obligated to eat it. Thanks dad, thanks mom, thanks self for being so weak-willed about it. I'd ask mom to make smaller servings in the first place, but then we might not have enough and we might be hungry for like a hour or two before getting a snack, and you have no idea how horrible that would be. Terribly horrible, that's how much. Mmh.

... And then grandma and dad make noises about my being overweight and how unhealthy that is. Oh family.

[l-clausewitz.livejournal.com]

Funny. Lucy has the same oddity about being unable to put on weight even though she eats a great deal more than the usual girl (more than the usual Indonesian person of her age and weight, in fact) and doesn't throw it up in a bulimic fit or anything. She just seems to metabolize things very quickly. She doesn't have the fast-eating habit, though, just the tendency to order the largest portions available (or two mid-sized portions if it turns out to be the more economical way of getting more food).

[ladyshina.livejournal.com]

That's a very interesting and thought-provoking anecdote. Thank you for sharing it.

(It's made me want to observe how I and my friends eat now.)

[kraehe.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite that extreme, but I notice that I eat faster than most other people.

My youngest sis went home from college for the holidays once and noticed that Mom put away the food after Dad had gotten just one serving; nobody got seconds. I suspect we just grew up with this and never noticed it. So, yeah.

But that's not gluttony, per se, IMO. Gluttony is eating way more than you need to eat and/or being wasteful with food. Ordering more food than one needs then throwing it away is just as much gluttony as gorging oneself with food.

[foodanimechicki.livejournal.com]

I know, myself, I tend to eat faster than a lot of my friends. I used to be the kind of person who liked to enjoy the taste of food, but because my job only gives me a short period of time to eat (we get 30 minutes for lunch, but by the time I actually get my food, I only have about 10-15 min tops), I find myself having to shove it down my throat so I can get back to work on time.

Since I've been doing that, it's kind of changed my eating habits all around, and I'm usually the first one to finish my plate when I go out to eat with friends, or even when I make dinner for me and the boyfriend. Because I am trying to control the portion size, I am now trying to leave enough for one meal so I can bring it to work, or give it to my boyfriend for his lunch. But it's hard because I'm of the mindset that it is bad to waste food, even if I'm not really wasting it but keeping it for another meal.

[taithe.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting story! I'm usually a fast eater, but mainly out of habit. My schedule leaves me about 5-10 minutes to eat, so I basically scarf down what I can.

If I'm eating with other people, I always eat slowly as a conscious effort to stretch out that 10 minutes into 30. Ironically, I discovered a good majority of my friends are fast eaters. Now it's so extreme that by the time I'm finished with a slice of pizza, they'd be drinking soda to polish off their second. It's a lot harder to force myself to eat faster though, because I don't really have a moderate speed of eating. It's either inhale or nibble.

[fandrogyny.livejournal.com]

My husband is like this -- I now eat faster because he will take food off my plate if I leave it sitting for too long, and he grew up with older siblings. (This may also explain why I now make everything for bowls; they're easier to defend...)