Do large families eat faster??

[taylor3297]

I was wondering if by chance he was a teacher. When I was teaching we had 25 minutes for lunch. In reality we only had about 10 minutes to actually eat. During that 25 minutes we had to walk the kids to the cafeteria, and pick them up from the cafeteria. If it was your week for cafeteria duty, then you had to eat while walking around the cafeteria and had to help clean up. Thus, I have noticed when teachers would go out to eat together, we all ate very fast out of habit.

 

[kacaju]

I am one of four and we ate fast. Also I used to work at a Veterinary Hospital where we only got a good lunch break if things were slow (which they never were) so I learned to inhale lunch. I still eat fast, dh is a slow eater.

 

[portocall]

Yes, my mother didn't always cook enough for us all to have seconds so we did eat fast. What we weren't allowed to do was get up from the table after we had finished though. It was family time and we were supposed to talk about our day. Then we had to ask to be excused...

 

[redlight]

I'm an only child, and I used to eat quickly. I've been working on slowing down my eating in part to cut down on how much I eat.

 

[C.Ann]

My late DH had 14 sisters and brothers.. Eating "fast" doesn't even come close to it! It was more like "inhaling" it - LOL..

I - on the other hand - came from a small family.. Only 2 siblings - until my parents adopted again after I got married for the first time.. I have always eaten fast - and still do.. It's not (nor has it ever been) a matter of wanting "seconds" though.. Food has just never been all that important to me and I consider sitting around eating for a half hour or so a huge waste of time.. There's always something else I would rather be doing..

 

[srferson]

Heh. DH is an only child and he eats ridiculously slowly. I'm one of two and I don't think I'm really either end of the spectrum. Makes sense based on what others here have said.

 

[DisneyCrazy915]

I had to laugh at this. I'm from a small family, and we eat slow, almost painfully slow for other people. And now that I'm thinking about it, whenever I'm out with friends who are from larger families, they do eat faster. Of course everyone seems to eat faster than me, so maybe they eat at a normal speed.
It makes sense though.

 

[tigercat]

I am one of 8 kids and I eat slow. There was food on the table and everyone took some. For seconds everyone called dibs if they wanted some more and it was divided up equally between all who wanted seconds. I do know of one meal that was made that several of us were really satisfied with the little we were given..and that was liver. Yuk I found it hard when I married my dh because in their family you took how much and whatever you wanted as the bowls went around without any regard for anyone else. One time one of his db took all of the mashed potatoes. And he was the 2nd person to get them. The rest of us didn't get any potatoes and nothing was done about it. If that had of been my house my db would have had to put it all back and not get any food. My dh always took food first and took what he wanted. It took many time of me saying that it was all right I didn't really want any food as there was only food for the kids and none for me. I refused any off his plate. He really felt guilty but it really took time. Even now 35 yrs later I have to gently remind him that there are other people and he will watch it. So just because you come from a large family doesn't necessarily mean you will eat fast. Most of my siblings don't eat fast.
tigercat

 

[EllenFrasier]

My husband's family had 4 children, and when we first got together he would eat really fast. He still is the first one finished at the table! Now we have 5 children and they all eat at different rates. The one who eats the fastest, is the one that sits next to his dad. The one who eats the slowest sits next to me - maybe they learn to eat by example?

Incidentally, most of my children never want seconds. Either they are getting enough the first time or I am a lousy cook, lol!

 

[lemondog]

COMPLETELY TRUE!!! My DH is one of 6 and when we first started dating I was APPALLED at how fast he shoveled it in. There were 4 boys, 2 girls, all a year apart. There was not enough for everyone to have seconds, so only those who finished first got more.

Makes sense to me. Luckily I have cured him of that disgusting habit. He really did resemble a pig at a trough.

 

[dislal]

My mom came from a large family 9 kids, parents, they had their grandfather living there and a few other relatives at the time. She always told us that when she was little her father was a very strict catholic and they would have to take turns saying grace every night, she said her one brother would always say : father, son, and holy ghost whoever eats the fastest gets the most. Then she said it was like a feeding frenzy and my grandfather would get so mad.

So yes I guess people from large families do have to eat fast.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I am an only child, and I have always been a fast eater.

My DH has me beat, however, and he is also an only child.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

when all the kids are here, Its eat fast or get none. unfortanally I eat fast all the time now.

 

[PrincessTeresa]

father, son, and holy ghost whoever eats the fastest gets the most.

That's too cute! I'll have to remember that!

 

[Sleepy]

I only started eating fast after I had my son. I swear I could feed him and then make myself the exact same thing 10 minutes later and he would approach me with "Can I have that?". He just turned 18 and he still does it sometimes. At least now I can say "no".

 

[ilovejack02]

FIL has 11 brothers and sisters and 3 tours in Vietnam, eats like someone is going to rip his plate away from him. He guards it with one arm sometimes ....

 

[mickeylove2]

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.

LOL, me too! How sexy is it to be out on a date and have the girl eat a meal in 3 seconds flat?!?!? It took a little while to get into the habit of slowing down while I'm eating.

 

[Pigeon]

Dh and I both came from huge families and both eat fast.

His family motto was "There are two kinds of people--the quick and the hungry."

 

[jen0610]

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.

Just about everybody we know that eats fast, is/was military.

Also I swear they all look for biggest silverwear you can own. The one guy rejected every single flatware set his birde-to-be showed him, telling her it was to dainty. She finally asked me what she was doing wrong, because it was the only he was being picky about registering for. When she showed me what she was picking out, I took her into my kitchen and gave her a spoon that the guys would use to eat cerial, soup or ice cream with whenever they would be at our place. She looked at and said "but it's a serving spoon." Told her the bigger the flatware, the happier he'd be. The next set she picked out was big and he gave his seal of approval.

 

[tinkermom23]

Not only did DH eat fast, but he "guarded" his food. He had fork in one hand and the other arm on the table around his plate.

Our kids learned early on that if they left the table for any reason, they look directly at DH and say "I'll be right back, don't eat my food."