Picking "Little Somethings" Out of Your Food
I know you can think of a time when you were served something you didn't
want to eat or couldn't eat.
When you can't eat a food:
If the food contains something you are allergic to, it is acceptable
to tell your hosts (in a polite way) about your allergy. However, if there
are other foods available that you can eat, you might eat them instead
and not mention the allergy. If you need to mention the allergy to decline
an invitation to eat something, you might say, "That looks simply
scrumptious, but with my allergy to peanuts, I'm not going to be able to
enjoy it."
If a food has those "little somethings" in it that you
don't like:
Eat what you can without being noticed. Don't form a nice little pile
of the somethings on your plate like my son always tried to do with onions.
Can't you see him picking tiny onion pieces out of his spaghetti sauce?
If you aren't allergic to the "somethings", it won't hurt to
try them. Never, never pick those somethings from your food with your fingers
unless you are eating finger food. That is really disgusting. Think about
a friend picking nuts out of ice cream. What a mess! Truly Manners Madness,
right?
Suppose you get a "little something" in your mouth by accident?
The best thing to do is to be brave and swallow it. If you simply can't
do that, find the most unobtrusive way to remove it from your mouth. That
means "don't make a scene." You might gently put it into a paper
napkin.
"Little Somethings" in Your Food Activities
Make a list of all the "little somethings" you don't like
in your food. Think of ways you can deal with the problem of the "little
somethings" without being offensive or impolite to others.
Little Somethings Quiz
- You see an awful hot pepper in your submarine sandwich. Do you (a)
scream, (b) eat the pepper even though you are allergic to it, or (c) gently
remove it with your fingers and leave it on your plate?
- A tiny piece of onion creeps up on you in your spaghetti sauce. It
gets into your mouth. Do you (a) eat it if you aren't allergic to it, (b)
spit it out and run from the table to wash your mouth out (after all, you
don't want to ever have bad breath), (c) do you scream at the person who
put onions into the sauce when that person knew you hated them, or (d)
politely and unobtrusively put it into your paper napkin?
Answers: 1. c and 2. a and d
On your computer make up some more Manners Madness questions, print
out your quiz, and give it to your family and friends. Be sure to give
every good grades so they'll feel good about their manners and yours.
