Village Squire, 1975-03, Page 14Misguided hospitality
may be
killing us!
BY PAT SPARKS
Like many people in Huron and Bruce
counties, I have a weight problem. Like all
weight watchers, I have watched my weight
go up, and up .... Like most obese persons,
have a substantial reason for being "slightly"
on the heavier side of life- I like to eat, and
eat....But also, like many fat people, I am
making a firm attempt, although I waver
periodically, to conquer the "Battles of the
Bulges and the Gorge." However, I am not
writing this essay primarily for "eaters"; I
am writing it particularly for "feeders".
In our local communities, probably from
the days of the pioneers, the citizens have
been instructed in the art of fattening
hospitality. At one time or another, most of
our homes, if not all, have hosted a party, a
meeting, a dinner, or simply an unexpected
visit. Quite often, although sustenance has
not been required, we have felt the need to
flood our guests with a tidal wave of food.
This food has seldom been the raw carrot,
celery stick variety. It has usually been the
heavily caloric type: the sandwich, the slab of
cake, the scoop of ice cream, the fancy cookie
. As hosts and hostesses, we have been
well trained in the skill of urging guests to
accept "stuffing" hospitality with politeness,
or to be rude. "Well trained" is really a
kindly word for what has actually been
brainwashing. We have all been -"brainwash-
ed" so beautifully that we have found it nigh
well impossible to separate hospitality from
food. It would seem that we have thought that
hospitality is measured in food footage. Most
of the time, we have failed to remember that
overfeeding increases the chance of heart
attack, et cetera, and hence, the chance of
early deaths.
I believe that the time has come to attempt
to break this 'chain of inherited habit'.
Somehow we must bring ourselves to the
place where we can recognize .the fact that
hospitality eminates from personalities and
not from refrigerators. In a world in which
shortages of food are a hungry reality and
escalating prices are a living nightmare, it
seems criminal to waste food. Stuffing
overfed people is not only a wasteful thing to
do, it is also a dangerous one. We had better
think carefully the next time, before we
"hospitably" ply our guests with wall-to-wall
food. Our misplaced hospitality may be the
cause of early deaths, both locally and
distantly.
12, VILLAGE SQUIRE/MARCH 1975
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