Eating culture

When we were young we were taught never to leave any unfinished rice on your plate for if you do this you will have pock marks on your face.We were taught never to be fussy about food as it was in the first instance difficult to come by.Dinner was set after everyone has bathed as mum would not allow us to come to the table if we are not clean.
No one could eat until the head of the family started and once you finish your meal you are out of the table to wash your own dish.there were no leftovers because mum would insist that food must not be wasted and the last one would have the honor of finishing all the food.
Eating in restaurants or eating out was almost unheard of and if ever we ate out it would be at the hawker stalls.Today the young people fuss so much about food.They would go the extra mile just to eat something they like and price was no issue.And after a meal you are talking about coffee and dessert.What a far cry from what we had when we were young.
I am never one to fuss about food and would just eat to keep off the hunger.Three important meals a day a must, what you eat is of no importance as long as you are not hungry>Malaysian are never in want for choice ,you can have so many options for b'fast,lunch and dinner.When we were young breakfast was always bread ,butter and jam and a cup of coffee,lunch was rice as was dinner.No fancy dishes but there was always sambal and curry to give you the appetite to eat more rice.On hindsight this was healthy living as today there is so much hoo ha about having three important meals a day.
We are so lucky today as you can have so many types of food to choose from ,Japanese,Italian ,Thai,French,Vietnamese etc but during our time we had no such options so to me even today a good meal would be rice with sambal and curry.But we have to keep with the times and eat what is available and to try what the food market has to offer.There should be no big fuss over a meal ,just eat whatever is served,if you like it eat more if not eat less.There are people who would insist on the type of food they like only without caring for the needs of others.
The Uzbeks have quaint eating habits.If you are invited to a house for dinner or lunch be prepared to allocate at least three hours.The meal would always start with the table full of appetizers which are a meal by themselves.Then you have the main course and after that dessert. Bread was sacred to the Uzbeks as it was their stable food and if a piece of bread fell on the floor you have to pick it up.Because bread was so important it was just served on the table without it being put in any plate.Dinner was a lengthy affair because there was a lot of idle chatter and small talk.
Eat to live or live to eat?To us common people of course its eat to live and I have found eating moderately an important maxim and meals should be eaten at the proper time.Breakfast should be between 7 to 8am ,lunch 1to 2 pm and dinner should be not later than 7 to 730pm as it would then give you enough time to digest your food before you sleep.Of course if your personal schedule is off you cant follow this timetable.A lot of young people skip breakfast because they wake up just in time to go to work and on weekends or holidays they sleep till lunch time.The key to good eating habits is eat on time ,eat moderately and dont be obese.Then you will find that you do not become sick because of poor eating habits.Enjoy food by all means but learn how to determine what you should eat,when you should eat and how much should you eat.