I enjoy people watching. Most everyone has certain little quirks about them that can be revealed by little more than casual observation. Of all the strange behaviours that can be observed in my fellow man, eating seems to be a really good venue for some genuine entertainment.
My poem, "Ode to an m&m" was inspired by a friend at work. We were talking while she was eating m&ms. She noticed me taking a fair amount of interest in the manner she was eating them and explained to me her method. I didn't know that there was an exact method for eating m&ms but she assured me that she could only do it one way. I have watched others eat m&ms and the procedure does vary to some extent. One guy even uses the "great big handfuls at a time" method and I must admit that I find that one a little hard to watch. Anyway, her details are in the poem (see earlier post) if you wish to imbibe.
A friend relayed a story about a lunch at a pizza buffet in which a fellow there would very neatly stack all of his pizza crusts on his plate in order after trimming them down to the same size with his teeth. He suspected the guy might be an Engineer which was later confirmed. We'll save the excentricities of Engineers for a later post. Being a member of the Engineering fraternity, I doubtless could write for a few miles on this subject. This same friend of mine would always take a big gulp of soda in his mouth and swish it around loudly like you would mouthwash before swallowing it. He didn't gargle it but he was close.
I've come across more than one person who will only eat one item on their plate at a time. I tried quizzing one of these single item eaters once about why they ate that way and did it matter which food was eaten first but was warned it was a bad idea by my coworkers. Evidentally, they knew him better than I did and realized that my curiousity might be misconstrued as heckling. Nothing could be further from the truth but if you asked anyone who knows me they just might tell you otherwise. I have always wondered what the criteria is for eating order. Kind of a "chicken and the egg" sort of question isn't it?
Anybody who's spent more than 1 meal with a child knows that they are the kings of the wierd eating habit. I much prefer adults because you pretty much expect a kid to do some funky things with his food. A kid peeling the crust off a peanut butter and jelly sandwich has nowhere near the entertainment value of an adult doing the same exercise.
I have my moments too but mostly I like to mess with the ones I share my meal with. I am right handed but I have eaten left handed since I was about 8 years old. Nothing special, I just wanted to see if I could teach myself to do it that way and I do like to be different from the rest of the crowd. It stuck and now I eat left handed nearly all the time. I also have a distinct affinity for Chinese food so I eventually learned how to eat with chopsticks both left and right handed and became better at it with my left hand than my right. A guy in a Chinese restaurant observed me using chopsticks left handed and finally, not being able to contain himself any longer, came over to my table and announced that he was proud that there was at least one other person in these United States of America that knew the correct way to use chopsticks. I floored him when I told him I was really right handed. The look on his face was well worth the training it took to learn how to use them with my left hand.
I'm sure that the good Dr. Freud had an explaination for all of these silly eating behaviours. Probably a term that is at least 8" long and can't even be pronounced without voice lessons. I don't want to know why, I just want to be there to enjoy them.
I'll see you at the buffet, as I deftly pinch up each tasty bite with my left handed chopsticks, seemingly unaware that you are watching, only to become my next curious victim who noticed that something isn't just quite right.
My poem, "Ode to an m&m" was inspired by a friend at work. We were talking while she was eating m&ms. She noticed me taking a fair amount of interest in the manner she was eating them and explained to me her method. I didn't know that there was an exact method for eating m&ms but she assured me that she could only do it one way. I have watched others eat m&ms and the procedure does vary to some extent. One guy even uses the "great big handfuls at a time" method and I must admit that I find that one a little hard to watch. Anyway, her details are in the poem (see earlier post) if you wish to imbibe.
A friend relayed a story about a lunch at a pizza buffet in which a fellow there would very neatly stack all of his pizza crusts on his plate in order after trimming them down to the same size with his teeth. He suspected the guy might be an Engineer which was later confirmed. We'll save the excentricities of Engineers for a later post. Being a member of the Engineering fraternity, I doubtless could write for a few miles on this subject. This same friend of mine would always take a big gulp of soda in his mouth and swish it around loudly like you would mouthwash before swallowing it. He didn't gargle it but he was close.
I've come across more than one person who will only eat one item on their plate at a time. I tried quizzing one of these single item eaters once about why they ate that way and did it matter which food was eaten first but was warned it was a bad idea by my coworkers. Evidentally, they knew him better than I did and realized that my curiousity might be misconstrued as heckling. Nothing could be further from the truth but if you asked anyone who knows me they just might tell you otherwise. I have always wondered what the criteria is for eating order. Kind of a "chicken and the egg" sort of question isn't it?
Anybody who's spent more than 1 meal with a child knows that they are the kings of the wierd eating habit. I much prefer adults because you pretty much expect a kid to do some funky things with his food. A kid peeling the crust off a peanut butter and jelly sandwich has nowhere near the entertainment value of an adult doing the same exercise.
I have my moments too but mostly I like to mess with the ones I share my meal with. I am right handed but I have eaten left handed since I was about 8 years old. Nothing special, I just wanted to see if I could teach myself to do it that way and I do like to be different from the rest of the crowd. It stuck and now I eat left handed nearly all the time. I also have a distinct affinity for Chinese food so I eventually learned how to eat with chopsticks both left and right handed and became better at it with my left hand than my right. A guy in a Chinese restaurant observed me using chopsticks left handed and finally, not being able to contain himself any longer, came over to my table and announced that he was proud that there was at least one other person in these United States of America that knew the correct way to use chopsticks. I floored him when I told him I was really right handed. The look on his face was well worth the training it took to learn how to use them with my left hand.
I'm sure that the good Dr. Freud had an explaination for all of these silly eating behaviours. Probably a term that is at least 8" long and can't even be pronounced without voice lessons. I don't want to know why, I just want to be there to enjoy them.
I'll see you at the buffet, as I deftly pinch up each tasty bite with my left handed chopsticks, seemingly unaware that you are watching, only to become my next curious victim who noticed that something isn't just quite right.
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This is great, you need to write a book of
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