IS IT HOW OR WHERE YOU EAT THAT DEFINES YOU?
They say, ‘you are what you eat’ how about ‘you are how you eat.’
Life is like a stage, we play so many separate roles and depending on the standards that we have already set for ourselves, we sometimes have to go the extra mile in certain settings for formal events.
My parents, even when we were children, could take us anywhere as they had brought us up to behave accordingly, and we were never an embarrassment, we naturally presented ourselves well. We had exceptionally good table manners and we respected other people’s homes, we knew how to act appropriately when we were out.
A child’s behaviour will reflect on how their parents brought them up as it is what you were allowed to get away with. For example, we would eat together, at the dining table, as a family, chew food quietly with our mouths closed, we would sit up straight, elbows were off the table, and you never spoke with food in your mouth. Nobody left the table until the last person had finished eating and then you could ask to be excused.
As an adult I follow the same regime, less the table, as I live alone and only have a breakfast bar. I am not passing judgement on what a person does in their own home as it’s there way, but do they not have a sense of decorum in public.
I must say, it is a revelation when you start observing other people’s table manners. Whilst I am waiting for the menu at a restaurant, I cannot help but glance around me. I try not to home in on a person, but when I can hear them slurping and see them shovelling food in their mouths like the food is going to run away , I am sitting there trying not to lose my appetite.
In the comfort of your home, you can stuff your face however you want, but surely there should be a code of conduct in a smartly dressed restaurant.
I find it exciting dressing up and going out to the exquisite restaurants in London. I am not really much of an eater, but I do love to sample the gourmet meals that are put in front of me. I am a happy customer as long as it is an immaculately clean environment.
I have been to some places where I have had to walk straight out the door, as the tables and floors are not up to even basic standard. A place where you eat food, should have exceedingly high standards of hygiene that is the first most important rule. A dirty eating place makes me lose my confidence in the quality of the food that I will receive.
Are you what you eat, how you eat or where you eat?
If I have any respect for myself, I will make sure that I watch where I choose to eat and how I want others to view me when I am eating, not so much as what I decide to eat.
