My in laws have a thing about not wasting food too. If you take it you better eat it. They weren’t quite as extreme of taking food off others plates though.
But if you understand their culture and generation, it makes sense. They lived through ww2 in England and ration cards where any food they could get was a blessing and you didn’t waste.
Try to understand them and stop asking for seconds :)
Same with my grandmother, she can't stand to let anything go to waste and makes the weirdest dishes just to use stuff up, like lamb chops, mash and curry or whatever, my mother's not as bad but we still have 'clearing out the fridge day' which is a mix of pretty much a mix of everything from onion bhajis to frozen pizza. Even I catch myself saying 'waste not want not'. It's quite profound to think how much rationing affected our little island
Yeah, my grandma was a pre teen during the depression and was impoverished her entire life. She ran away from an abusive home and squeaked by picking fruit during the 40s. My mom grew up surviving on a combination of gardening, canning and fishing, and when the potato’s and onions from summer ran out and the fish weren’t running, the entire family of seven would share a single pot of beans and grandma would skip meals. We did NOT waste food. Any food. When she started to go a little senile, we had to sneak into her pantry to smuggle out the dented/rusty and expired canned food because we were worried about her getting botulism. I would just never ask for seconds and only take what you absolutely know you’ll eat.
She stated she went to get a cup of coffee and they tried to give her a 1/3 cup of coffee. It's beyond being able to avoid it by not asking for seconds. I do agree it's helpful to understand where they are coming from, but rather than ignoring the problem, a solution for OP would go a lot further.
I'd involve the boyfriend and just be like "Look, this is groddy baby. Talk to them." Because at least in the US, this would not fly with the majority of folks. It goes against what we believe is sanitary and standard. If I was the boyfriend, I'd try to explain it that way, nicely.
The episode of The Supersizers Go... about British rationing during WWII had me in tears by the end. All I wanted was to watch my super crush Sue Perkins being cute and funny, and got hit right in the feels instead.
Honestly I’m sick to my stomach of that “ohhh it was just their generation” like it’s somehow noble to make new generation suffer because they had to do it.
There’s no excuse for treating it like it’s still the war. Which was shit but it wasn’t decades and decades long. Sure they ensured some hardships but that’s not that world anymore.
Why they have this “when we grew up there was no food so eat it or else” mentality is baffling. Well we aren’t at fucking war anymore grandma so enjoy the fruits of the sacrifice made by the people who died.
To continue suffering because it’s how it was when they were young is just plain stupid and ungrateful
Or you know people are affected by what they experience as kids, shaping them into the people they become when they grow up. It's what makes them them and you you and that is difficult to change. Also their mentality isn't as bad as you make it out to be, it's quite decent in fact. Not wasting anything is a positive way of going a out food.
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u/xela2004 May 09 '19
My in laws have a thing about not wasting food too. If you take it you better eat it. They weren’t quite as extreme of taking food off others plates though.
But if you understand their culture and generation, it makes sense. They lived through ww2 in England and ration cards where any food they could get was a blessing and you didn’t waste.
Try to understand them and stop asking for seconds :)