Do large families eat faster??

[DisneyBeagle]

My coworker (Cindy) was complaining about a guy that she has been dating and how quickly he eats his meals. In her words "he shovels it in like he hasn't eaten in a week." Another coworker (Barbara) asked her if the guy was from a large family. Barbara went on to say that people from families that have several kids often eat faster because that's the only way they can get second helpings of food. Barbara said her husband was from a family with 8 kids and mom would make enough food for everyone to eat one helping plus a little extra. The first people finished were able to help themselves to the extra food. Thus, all the kids learned to eat super fast.

I thought she was crazy, but then I started thinking about the two people that I know that eat super fast. Both of them are from families that have 5+ kids. I think it probably a coincidence, but I thought I would ask others.

So, those of you with several siblings, do you eat fast?

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

This is exactly the situation with my DH. He is from a family of 7 kids and although they ended up being very well off, times were tough at the beginning. (DH is 2nd in line-the kids are 2 years apart.) The only way to get seconds was to eat fast and dig in. I don't know if his other siblings are like this, but DH always eats fast and has to wait for the rest of us to finish-me an only child, and our 2 DSs.

ETA: DH's family=Mom and Dad, 5 boys, 2 girls.

 

[Rora]

You know, now that I think about it, DFiance does eat awfully fast. He's one of 5. I just called him to ask if he realized he ate so fast.. his reply "Yeah. That's the only way I could get seconds as a kid." He comes from a family of all boys and one girl- 4 hungry, growing boys in the house? I understand why he eats quickly.

I wonder how true this is on a larger level.. hmm...

 

[mom2travel]

my DH worked with someone who was from a family of 8 and told him the same thing about why he ate so fast

 

[DisneyBeagle]

This is exactly the situation with my DH. He is from a family of 7 kids and although they ended up being very well off, times were tough at the beginning. (DH is 2nd in line-the kids are 2 years apart.) The only way to get seconds was to eat fast and dig in. I don't know if his other siblings are like this, but DH always eats fast and has to wait for the rest of us to finish-me an only child, and our 2 DSs.

You know, now that I think about it, DFiance does eat awfully fast. He's one of 5. I just called him to ask if he realized he ate so fast.. his reply "Yeah. That's the only way I could get seconds as a kid." He comes from a family of all boys and one girl- 4 hungry, growing boys in the house? I understand why he eats quickly.

I wonder how true this is on a larger level.. hmm...

My coworker must have been on to somethings....go figure.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have 3 sibs and my mom makes enough food for an army (we always fed the "stray kids", friends that were not well off, so guests were often at our table). There was never a need to "east fast". She would even have dessert. She loved cooking.

My dad on the other hand is not from a large family, only has a brother and he eats fast. In fact we have timed him at Thanksgiving and other meals. I mean he will down a meal in less than a minute. Thanksgiving meal is about 5 minutes, if that.

With my dad, he looks at eating as something that is a chore to be done and not something that you do with people to socialize.

 

[mjkacmom]

Most of my kids eat extra fast - I have to tell dd13 to slow down! Ds7 rushes because he's a hyper kid, and the last thing he wants to do is sit at the table. And yes, we do run out, but they're good about switching what they like and don't like with each other, so little goes to waste. Dd7 is my only slow eater - she enjoys her food, and is usually the last one sitting at the table. When we go out to eat, we're all sitting there with our coats on while she finishes.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

OMG, I love your thread. I thought my husband's family was the only one that did that. We both came from large families but we didn't eat like that. We were told to slow down and if we ate a huge bite, we would have to spit it out. GROSS!

 

[Acklander]

I learned to eat fast while in basic training. It took a few years after I got out of the military to readjust and learn to eat slowly again.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I have 11 siblings, and yes we eat fast. We had to, because we ate in shifts. The 5 "babies" would eat first, while the 7 older kids waited for us to finish. They stood over us and basically rushed us through. Sometimes, one of my brother's would make it seems really cool to stand up and eat. He would say will all this excitement.."Who wants to stand up and let the food go to their feet?" For some reason, we thought that sound really neat, and we would scramble to stand up to eat, then the older kids got their plates and sat down.

Yeah, we weren't too bright.

 

[iwrbnd]

Yes and they also seem to talk faster!

I know in my family you better talk fast if you want to get a word in!

 

[marypoppinswannabe]

I have 7 siblings. We also eat fast. Not sure why we do, but we do. I make an effort not to eat fast, but I just do it. I went to lunch at IHOP yesterday (yum!!!) and inhaled my food. I didn't realize that I did it until I noticed my friend was still eating his 10 minutes later.

 

[Piglets Mommy]

My DH eats really fast. He doesn't come from a large family....just 3 kids, but I commented once on how fast he eats. He said that if you didn't eat fast in his house, you didn't get seconds. I've tried to get him to slow down for years with no luck. Seconds aren't an issue here...we almost always have leftovers. I guess old habits are hard to break.

 

[almburr]

Not in this family!

we have 5 chilldren they are not aloud to eat fast, there is always enough extra for each of them. DH is from a large family they had to sit and eat slowly also. there was always enough to go around. DMil large family too. No reason to eat fast.

I guess it depends on the family some might think of meal time as a free for all ,others a time to spend together.

 

[kldmom2000]

yes but then it's inherited too... LOL!

My dad was one of 5 siblings and if you wanted a 2nd slice of pizza, you had to eat FAST.....

Dad met my mom and he was always done way before her, so she adjusted her eating habits to match his

Enter the 2 kids now.... we grew up eating fast because Mom and Dad did esp. when we were on vacation-too much to see-quick kids!!! Eat so we can go!

I met DH in 1989 and he was the S-L-O-W-E-S-T eater in the universe (or so I thought)

Through the time we've been together, I've slowed down some and he's picked up the pace so we usually finish dinner at the same time

Our girls though? They're slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww....

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My dad was one of 5 kids (4 boys and 1 girl) and grew up during the Depression. He said they always had to eat fast to get seconds. He also said there when there was a chicken, they would each get a little meat and all the stuffing they could eat. To this day, he will not eat stuffing (he's 84!). He said he got so sick of it as a kid that he just can't stand it anymore. When I was growing up, I remember him looking at everyone's plate and saying, "I'll eat that if you're not going to." He learned to "claim" his sibling's leftovers before someone else did. My mom was always telling him to stop doing that but apparently it was a hard habit to break! She finally convinced him that he can afford to buy anything he wants now so he should stop taking inventory of everyone else's plates!

 

[locolala]

I learned to eat fast while in basic training. It took a few years after I got out of the military to readjust and learn to eat slowly again.

I hear you there. I was on double rations the whole time I was in boot. When I got to MCT I went to Wendy's on base and ordered 3 value meals and ate them all. I still eat pretty fast, and I've been out for about 2 years now.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I am an only child and I eat so slow that I often get made fun of by my friends with how slow I eat.

DM comes from a family of 5, but they didn't have a lot of money so they grew accustomed to eating fast in order to grab leftovers, if there was any. Now all is well and DGM always makes enough food for 12 when it's often 4 people.

DFiance comes from a family of 8. They had plenty of money and they're a French and Italian blend... mom is from France, dad is from Italy. Not only do they make a lot of food, they like to eat a lot of food and the food is always DELICIOUS. Luckily, they're all fit i.e. they're a family of runners and swimmers because they're probably all be really fat otherwise. But the parents (they cook about an even amount of time) would always make a lot of food, usually the people actually eating numbered 10 but there would easily be enough for at least double. They all eat at a fairly average pace. But it's cool because food is a big part of their lives and so is dinner, dinner is often 3 hours long.

 

[turkeymama]

I learned to eat fast while in basic training. It took a few years after I got out of the military to readjust and learn to eat slowly again.

Yep, this.

DH and DFil are both former Marines and they eat super fast. Fil is also from a large family, but not DH. He only had one sibling growing up.

 

[rie'smom]

My husband is # 6 in a family of 10 kids. His family is wealthy but the Lee, the cook, only fixed a set amount of hot food. If you were early, you might get seconds. If you were late, you'd fix yourself a sandwich. I was amazed when we started dating and sometimes even now 30 years later, that he eats so quickly.