Poll: Finish Your Plate!

[Dags90]

So, inspired by a comment in a thread asking about weight loss...

Who here was encouraged by parents/guardians to finish their plates at mealtimes as a child? Either verbally or by withholding desserts/snacks/etc?

Only my grandma ever really encouraged this attitude of not wasting food. Looking back on it, it seems kind of stupid. Obviously you should take steps to not waste food (because food = money), like taking smaller portions and going back for more, or just saving what's on your plate as leftovers. But the idea of making a child eat past when they feel like it seems kind of wrong. Yes children can be picky eaters. Yes it's annoying to have to constantly feed someone. But is it worth instilling bad eating habits?

I know a guy who has a really odd (if not pathological) obsession with finishing food. He hates to see food thrown away. So if we're eating out, he offers to eat other people leftovers, even after he's finished. He also encourages this behavior of "don't throw anything away, there's just a few more bites!" in others.

Also wondering if this is mostly an American phenomenon.

 

[Jonluw]

I know that it certainly is, or at least used to be, a common phenomenon here in Norway.
Normally accompanied by the line "think of the starving children in Africa".

My parents weren't very strict when it came to finishing my plate. With one exception:
Whenever the day's dinner was fish.
I've always hated seafood. Particular dishes could make me literally gag, but my parents always forced me to eat whatever fish was on my plate. It often ended in tears.

 

[yeti585]

I was encouraged to finish my plate. Well, unless my family realized they gave me way to much to eat. That being said we always tried to eat healthier meals. If it's done right you are actually enforcing good eating habits. My cousin, who is 3 years old(I think), would stay with my grandmother on the weekends. She would always eat a bunch of junk, and not much "actual food". My grandmother usually does the "withhold desserts/snacks/etc." to get her to eat more vegetables and less chips/pretzels/etc.

 

[Dags90]

I've always hated seafood. Particular dishes could make me literally gag, but my parents always forced me to eat whatever fish was on my plate. It often ended in tears.

Spoiler: Excuse me?

A Norwegian who doesn't like seafood?

I think I was spared a lot of the "finish your plate" nonsense because my father's father was hardcore about it. If you didn't finish breakfast, it was lunch. Didn't finish lunch? It's now dinner, and so on.

Also, for my grandmother it was the starving children in China.

 

[Jonluw]

I've always hated seafood. Particular dishes could make me literally gag, but my parents always forced me to eat whatever fish was on my plate. It often ended in tears.

Spoiler: Excuse me?

A Norwegian who doesn't like seafood?

Believe it or not, it's actually pretty common. At least among children.

Maybe it's because of my parents' insistance on feeding me that horrible cod liver oil.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

My parents would whack me until I finished eating.
My older sister and I would spend, I shit you not, hours at the dinner table because our mother would give us really big proportions and expect us to finish it.
Eventually we would give up and make sure our parents weren't watching. We'd then dump it outside or in the obscured garden plant next to the table depending on what the food was.

Damn immigrant parents.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Same here but to be fair I was extremely picky with my foods. Seriously as a kid I only ate limited foods like fish, rice, bread, milk, Chicken Nuggets from Mcdonalds, those once existed chicken finger from KFC, this just of bum in a Chinese resturant and a few others.

In saying so however it was a good thing I was picky as my brother back then was quite chubby as a kid (my parent still make large portion to this day).

Either way I did grow out of it (I remember spending several minutes kept behind in the preschool dinner hall since I had to eat my hams in my sandwich in order to play) and was grateful for them given me a wider tastebud compare to any other kids back then. I shrug watching those kids during Jamie's School Dinners show.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I kind of am like that guy, more times than not it's masked gluttony rather than not wanting to throw stuff away though. I remember being at this ramen place and one of my friends left half her bowl of very very tasty-looking ramen there. They were big bowls and it was fine that she did not finish it but at the same time...it felt like such a waste. I was past full and I'd have slurped it down in an instant had she offered.


Apparently my reaction of "what!? you're just leaving that???" stayed with her cause the next day she offered me her leftover chowder...which was good...but it wasn't epic (actually high quality) spicy ramen! >_<

 

[Lionsfan]

My parents one was, "However old you are, that's how many pieces you have to eat".

So if I was 8, I had to eat 8 pieces of *insert food*

 

[purplecactus]

I was a fussy eater as a kid, to which my parents would answer 'if you don't finish everything on that plate you're going to get slapped'. I only deliberately tested that theory once, and after a few more times I figured out 'but I really don't like it' was never a good enough excuse.

Now I'll eat pretty much anything.

 

[Chemical Alia]

No, not really. My mom wanted to make me eat all of my vegetables, and would put the timer on the microwave and threaten me with going to my room if I didn't finish them in time when I was taking too long, but she never encouraged that habit of eating past being full. My friend's family did make them eat all of their food and encouraged 2nd and 3rd helpings, and they're all pretty overweight. She said it was a really hard habit to break.

 

[farscythe]

my parents had the rule of your not leaving the table till that plates empty.. which in all fairness never bothered me. i love food

but yea for my daughter the rule is if you put it on your plate you eat it.( tho i do nag her about trying to not put any vegetables n the likes on her plate in the first place)

 

[Jedoro]

I didn't have to finish what was on my plate, but leftovers were all I could eat before having any treats, so not much went to waste.

 

[DanielBrown]

No, not that I can recall.
Eating for two since the past two years though. We still haven't learn to cook less since my sister moved out.

Good thing I got great genes.

 

[bafrali]

Yep. Every freaking meal.

They used to say that it would cry after me if i didn't finish my plate. That is work passion people

 

[Sonicron]

I was not encouraged, I was flat-out told to finish my plate. My dad experienced the times of WW2 as a child, and all the hardship and hunger that went with it, so seeing food go to waste for any reason is still unacceptable to him to this very day.
Nothing wrong with that, if you ask me - just eat smaller portions to avoid going supersize. xD

 

[Woodsey]

My parents were never really like that, from what I remember.

I'm a fairly fussy eater, and if there's one thing I find unbearably fucking irritating, it's people acting like I'm doing it on purpose - I'm a fussy eater because I don't like all that many types of food, I can't help it, just putting shit in front of me and telling me I 'have' to eat it is not going to endear me to new food-types all that well.

Now that I'm older I mostly get it from people telling me things I should try over and over again.

 

[Logiclul]

Yes, and I'm glad because I know lots of people who weren't who are really skinny and are male. As someone who works out and exercises, it'd be impossible for me to function without eating a lot, and it goes back from my habit of doing so as a child.

Also re: Americans are fat. Turns out Americans have the best athletes as well.

Furthermore, anyone blaming their parents for being overweight/underweight is full of shit. There was a period of time where a friend of mine was eating a ton of food and got overweight and one day decided to workout with me and lose weight. We immediately found out how to cut his calories and get the amts of protein/carbs and he's healthier and in some ways stronger than me.

 

[Bestival]

My parents encouraged it, but my grandparents insisted on it. Probably a throwback to growing up in WW2, they're very keen on not being wasteful. I recently learned their shovels are 10 years older than me, and I'm 25... original shafts and handles, everything... not a spot of rust on them, really amazing.

It was normal for them to have dessert in the same plate you had your dinner in, and if you didn't finish your plate before dessert, they dumped the custard or yoghurt over the food you didn't eat.
It was never a problem for me, since I love food and eating, but my oldest sister was terribly fussy, and it was somewhat hard on her.

And I'm Dutch btw, so it's not really an American thing I reckon.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Only regarding veggies.

If I didn't finish my vegatables it meant no snacks.