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

[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).