Table manner is different....
Oct 18 '06
The Bottom Line What will you do after you read this??
¡§Bring your plate and sit down, and then we will say Itadakimasu,¡¨ said my teacher, to my classmates and me when I was in school.
Itadakimasu means ¡§thank you¡¨ to people who grew the vegetable and grains we ate, and also ¡§thank you¡¨ to those who prepared the dishes. We always said it before we ate meals. Before we ate lunch, we waited for everyone to sit down and started to eat it at the same time. We also cleaned up at the same time, and it was not allowed to leave any food on our plates. We learned that it was bad to leave leftovers because the people who made it for us worked hard. This was that I was taught about food in Japan.
My friend, who is also from Japan, is taking a child development course. She told me one day she learned that in the United States, if a child is told they need to sit down and eat everything on their plate, it is considered a punishment. When she volunteered in the child care center for her class, she saw that children were free to decide what they wanted to eat and anytime they could eat their lunch or snacks.
My friend and I discussed these differences about food between our cultures.
Both of us have American housemates, and we know they throw away many leftovers. We suppose the rules American children were told from adults made them picky eaters who can not clean up their dishes after meals.
Also, when we were in the school, we were not allowed to bring any outside foods to school and could not eat anything beside our lunch. However, in the U.S., vending machines make it possible for children to easily to buy snacks. Now children know that they do not need to eat something they do not like. It will cause them to be overweight.
In my hometown, Okinawa, people live their lives¡¦ longer than anyone else in the world. My parents told me that Okinawa people eat many natural foods and sea foods. These foods keep them alive and healthy longer. However, after foods began to be imported from other countries, such as fast and instant foods, peoples¡¦ lifetime was getting shorter than before. This shows that foods directly affect our lifespan.
I know it is hard for children to sit down and eat something they do not like. I also understand it is hard to change their lifestyle, and tell them something that is new to you. However, I think it is the adult¡¦s responsibility to teach children what is good for them. In the news it showed that some school¡¦s vending machines will not be selling sodas any longer. Society is trying to change, and so it is a good time to change ourselves too!
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