Did you know that it is possible to get an inkling about the nature of an individual based on their eating habits? Over the years, from my observations, I’ve developed a hypothesis based on two components – the order in which people eat the food in their plate, and the state of the plate at the end of the meal.
Hypothesis 1: People who eat what they like first, and then move on to the lesser liked ones are more likely to be impulsive. Those who eat the lesser-liked foods first, and then move on to their favourite food are the ones who’re more likely to be successful.
When you think a little more about this hypothesis, it makes sense, especially when you view it the context of the ability to delay gratification.
Of course, there mustn’t be any outside force that influences the order of eating foods – like, for example, in the famous story of the new son-in-law who went to his mother-in-law’s house and ended up eating only ………….. (fill in the blank with the yucky dish depending on which part of the country you come from) in his entire meal because he wasn’t articulate or assertive enough to put his foot down and say, “Enough of this nonsense.” Which is quite surprising given that in the times when this story was popular, the groom’s side didn’t hesitate to throw their weight around.
Sorry for the digression – let’s get back to part two of my theory.
Hypothesis 2: People who leave their plate clean, with no remnants of food, are more likely to be clear in their thinking, and decisive in their actions. Those whose plates are cluttered with left-over food at the end of the meal are more likely to be just as cluttered in their mind, and probably find it difficult to make up their mind when it is decision time.
The logic here too is simple – when you know what exactly you want, and what you don’t want, and apportion the dishes correctly, there’s no chance of anything being left over. When you’re not sure of what you want/don’t want, you end up trying to sample a little of everything, and in the end, there’s so much left over that you just can’t finish it all.
I’d like to know if you’ve noticed these things too. Even if you haven’t so far, you’re welcome to try it retrospectively and see if my hypotheses are proved or disproved by your experience. Either way, it would be nice to hear your views 😊
Hypothesis 1: People who eat what they like first, and then move on to the lesser liked ones are more likely to be impulsive. Those who eat the lesser-liked foods first, and then move on to their favourite food are the ones who’re more likely to be successful.
When you think a little more about this hypothesis, it makes sense, especially when you view it the context of the ability to delay gratification.
Of course, there mustn’t be any outside force that influences the order of eating foods – like, for example, in the famous story of the new son-in-law who went to his mother-in-law’s house and ended up eating only ………….. (fill in the blank with the yucky dish depending on which part of the country you come from) in his entire meal because he wasn’t articulate or assertive enough to put his foot down and say, “Enough of this nonsense.” Which is quite surprising given that in the times when this story was popular, the groom’s side didn’t hesitate to throw their weight around.
Sorry for the digression – let’s get back to part two of my theory.
 |
| Which plate is yours? |
Hypothesis 2: People who leave their plate clean, with no remnants of food, are more likely to be clear in their thinking, and decisive in their actions. Those whose plates are cluttered with left-over food at the end of the meal are more likely to be just as cluttered in their mind, and probably find it difficult to make up their mind when it is decision time.
The logic here too is simple – when you know what exactly you want, and what you don’t want, and apportion the dishes correctly, there’s no chance of anything being left over. When you’re not sure of what you want/don’t want, you end up trying to sample a little of everything, and in the end, there’s so much left over that you just can’t finish it all.
I’d like to know if you’ve noticed these things too. Even if you haven’t so far, you’re welcome to try it retrospectively and see if my hypotheses are proved or disproved by your experience. Either way, it would be nice to hear your views 😊
And what bout people like me who inspect a buffet take only little taste the selected food and then go for a second round to pick up only thats delicious and then finish with a clean plate?
ReplyDeleteHaha..you're the category of people who manage, artfully, to have their cake and eat it too :-)
DeleteYour part 1 brought back memories of my childhood experience. I went along with my father (who is very strict about not wasting any food) for a banana leaf served feast in a neighbor's house. Seeing the unpalatable half, I emptied these to enjoy the tasty half. My host immediately served all those items again in my leaf. She obviously concluded I had a liking to those items. Had a tough time emptying all the contents.
ReplyDeleteHaha...that's just like in the typical story that's told!
DeleteMy plates are generally finished off by the end of meal, and I definitely eat the not so liked food first to relish the good ones in the end. I thought all this had to do with me alone as I get paranoid when someone wastes food on their plate. Somehow I have been able to rub this off on my family too. For they all finish off their plate clean. Eating the good part in the end is something personal and I thought was an individual's choice. Never knew so much would go into its analysis. Glad for this blog, Anu.
ReplyDeleteJust my grey cells growing a little flippant, Shilpa! Thank you for reading and sharing your routine :-)
DeleteWow is there analytics here too....For me it has been a traditional practice to finish everything that is served and follow the standard way of having things in a particular order, like kheer to begin with followed by dal rice, poori..... Etc and then finally end with curd rice sounds yummy yummy na ha ha ha so what's this considered to be?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Madhavi Paranjape
Analytics can be in anything, Madhavi! Considering that you're following the traditional way of eating, I'd call you conventional type. Likes to follow tradition, not a great risk-taker etc etc...see, how easy it is to be a psychology expert? ;-)
Delete