Does The "Eat Everything On Your Plate" Mentality Stem From The Great Depression or Poor Families?!
I was wondering if this behavior stemmed from growing up after the great depression when everything was scarce or especially from low-income families. Some older generations had this mentality and others do not so i was wondering where that mentality came from.
Answers: My parents were big on the whole "eat everything on your plate" thing; the reason that my fathr is now over 250lbs.
I was wondering if this behavior stemmed from growing up after the great depression when everything was scarce or especially from low-income families. Some older generations had this mentality and others do not so i was wondering where that mentality came from.
i think that is probably true. my grandmother is really big on saving everything; she won't throw away the last two week old piece of cake or the sheet of plastic wrap the was used six times already. think about it: if you were brought up, say, in a third world country and only got to eat meat very very rarely, and then came to america when you were fourty and could buy as much meat as you wanted, do you think that you would still consider it a blessing? would you want to put as much of it to use as possible? probably. if you once had nothing, you are always in the mindset that you could have nothing again.
I was brought up that way.
"You don't leave the table until the plate is empty" Dad & Mum.
I would have to say both. I grew up poor and we were always taught to eat EVERYTHING that was placed in front of us,because it wasn't considered acceptable to waste food! I know that when my parents were growing up it was the same thing,you were expected to eat whatever food was put on your plate,and you were expected to eat all of it without wasting it!
Growing up...it was "eat everything on your plate, there are people starving out there"! Doesn't mean you need to load up the plate, though, normal portions are enough for anyone.
i think it comes from that. i have a few relatives that grew up during the depression era and when it comes to food you eat everything. my uncle (through marriage) his mother does not waste a single thing, everything is used and eaten.
But i also think it was a phrase that was used just to get kids to eat their foor because my mom would also tell us "there kids out there that have nothing to eat so eat all your food"
You are on track. The mentality came from the
fact that food wasn't cheap so wasting food
wasn't approved of. Children being picky eaters
by nature, making them try every food put before
them would assure that they would not go
hungry at night. The rotund look was in
back in the Victorian era so making kids eat a lot
to achieve that look was the norm. This trend
was handed down from generation and continued
through the great depression when food and
jobs were scarce.
I'm sure that's where it came from. I read that people who lived during the Great Depression, didn't waste anything. Money was too hard to come by, so they bought only the bare necessities, & the women canned much of the food that they harvested. A short time ago, I posted a question about the "Depression Plants" that the people from that era, made from household items, to add something colorful to their living rooms/parlors. I made one in junior high as a Science project. The kids had never heard of them & were really impressed. I was impressed when my teacher gave me an "A."
If the depression was so bad, why is it referred to as the "Great Depression?"
I think that the biggest reason is because of low-income families. They were very conscious of not wasting anything. It just wasn't that big of a deal before to eat everything on your plate since the food was so much healthier than it is now. It took me years to remember that I was not going to burn in hell if I didn't eat everything on my plate.
I was brought up that way and i have NO food phobias
During the Great Depression, most people were poor so you could say both. But the Depression is what started it.
Both- also add in the fact that people used to believe that you shouldn't be wasteful.