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  • Del -From This Angle

Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered.

7/7/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
Maybe it's me. Maybe the heat is driving me crazy and making me feel the way I feel when I'm hangry. But something is bothering me and I'm not sure why.
I'm not big on the super-etiquette list. You know the old "Do this because it is the proper way to do things" just because that's the way you do something. Same reason I'm not a big traditionalist, you know, doing things a certain way just because that's the way they always been done. I don't buy into that crap. It reminds me of parents saying the reason they are telling you to do something is "Because I said so". Nope not good enough.
At the same time I'm not a slob or a party embarrassment. I can pretty much go anywhere and spend an evening with anybody and not offend. I'm at the place I believe most of us try to maintain. We can be stuffy or proper or just not rude for an evening with anybody but don't want it to go on for much more than one evening. After that I want to get home., put my feet up and relax. My needs are simple.
That's why I find that this "thing" that disturbs me is disturbing. I'll really need some feedback on this one as I'm in a quandary. I shouldn't be disturbed. I really don't give a shit what other people do as long as I don't have to be involved. Have you ever had something happen around you that just makes you grind your teeth? Some stupid little thing that really makes your jaws tight? You know what I mean - like a coworker who always whistles a non-tune, or somebody who makes a noise by sucking air through their teeth when they aren't speaking or maybe someone who always repeats a phrase about 50 times in the course of their conversation like "You know?".
So here it is. Twice in the last month I have been out to dinner with adults and one of them has gotten their food and then cut it up into little piece before they began eating it. Neither dinner was spaghetti, which I could semi-forgive as I've been with several folks who prefer to cut that up instead of twirl so it must just be me.  One of these was prime rib at a very nice establishment (plus they ordered the prime rib overcooked) but, shriek, the other was scrambled eggs! You don't even have to cut this shit. Just take the side of your fork and scoop up the amount you want to eat. But no. They actually cut, kind of a cross-hatching move, all the eggs up and then began eating. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
Am I the only one out of line here for it to bother me? I felt like mommy was about to feed the little baby. Do lots of grown people do this? Maybe I've led a sheltered life. So I started searching (the web of course, not like I'm gonna pick my ass up and go to a library or someplace) and came across a thing (website, webpage, web something) that was mainly speaking about proper manners for dining if you are going on a trip abroad. I believe the site was SixWise.com. They said -  "Proper etiquette says you should only cut a few pieces of meat/food at a time, or, better yet, cut only the piece you plan to eat. As for people who choose to cut their food up all at once, Adeodata Czink, president of Business of Manners, a company that specializes in mastering proper international protocol (I didn't even know there was such a company) says "When you cut your food up like that, you look like you are about to feed a baby." Hah! I was vindicated by SixWise.
But I wanted more ammunition.  So I kept searching. A 2012 article in the Daily Mail helpfully points out - "Research shows that people eat less when presented with several small pieces of food rather than one large one – even when the two contain the same number of calories."  So were both of these men at separate times watching their weight?  If that was the case it must be working since at least one of them didn't have enough body fat to make a candle. I wasn't buying it and kept searching.
Somebody had posted , "Cutting food into small pieces is and ED related behaviour that I have never really been able to understand". But went on to ask if those that did were forced to eat the food they'd cut up. I can honestly say neither of these people were forced and they cleaned their plates.
But we're getting away from the premise which was why did this bother me? I still don't know but do you have things that bother you for no known reason? Let me know. I love the feedback.



2 Comments
Alida
12/13/2018 02:28:32 pm

I think adults who feel compelled to cut up their food in tiny pieces before eating it are probably suffering from OCD. I’m not a professional, but I have some background in brain science. Just guessing.

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Kimberly
10/30/2020 04:07:32 pm

I am one of those people who cuts up their food first. and my Uncle does make fun of me for it and comments that it's like I'm cutting up food for a baby. But he's also the only person who's really confronted me on it though I have seen a few other people notice it too. I can say that for me it's about wanting to have the ability to engage more presently in conversation while eating. So I get my food prep out of the way so I can listen more attentively to who I'm having dinner with. This is an accomodation that I make for myself because I have Attention Deficit Disorder and possibly other neurological issues from being exposed to alcohol in utero. I get that sometimes something just bothers one and that's more your topic here, but i wanted to remind everyone to do your best to leave room for people accomodating their disabilities. I really appreciate the honesty in your writing. <3

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    Del Howison is an award-winning editor, author and journalist. Along with his wife, Sue, they are co-owners of Dark Delicacies which has served the Horror community for a quarter of a century.

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