Clear Your Plate - There Are Children Starving in Europe

[What Would Jesus Do?]

That's what we were told when I was a kid. I never understood how clearing my plate was supposed to help starving children in Europe, but since adults were saying it, I figured it must be true . . . somehow.

In retrospect I suppose the message wasn't "you can help them by finishing your food" but more along the lines that "you can show your gratitude that you aren't among the starving by finishing your food."

I'm guessing there aren't a lot of starving children in Europe any more. So clearly I and the kids from my generation did a good job.

I'm now a fat old man living in an increasingly obese America. Food is plentiful and fairly cheap. Do kids today have to be told to clear their plates? If so, which starving children are we saving (or glad we aren't them) these days?

 

[hawkbirch]

I don’t make my kids clean their plates mostly because of my childhood being told to do so. I also don’t load their plates up with more than I know they will eat.
We are almost never all home at the same time for a meal any more. If you are hungry, go get something to eat. And don’t make a mess doing it!!

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

I lived in a clean your plate household.


My mom would load my plate with shit she KNEW I hated. Sadistic woman 😁

 

[alaskanseminole]

That's what we were told when I was a kid. I never understood how clearing my plate was supposed to help starving children in Europe, but since adults were saying it, I figured it must be true . . . somehow.

In retrospect I suppose the message wasn't "you can help them by finishing your food" but more along the lines that "you can show your gratitude that you aren't among the starving by finishing your food."

I'm guessing there aren't a lot of starving children in Europe any more. So clearly I and the kids from my generation did a good job.

I'm now a fat old man living in an increasingly obese America. Food is plentiful and fairly cheap. Do kids today have to be told to clear their plates? If so, which starving children are we saving (or glad we aren't them) these days?

"Europe"??? I was always told it was China and then that eventually changed to Ethiopia.

 

[alaskanseminole]

I lived in a clean your plate household.


My mom would load my plate with shit she KNEW I hated. Sadistic woman 😁

I can remember sitting at the table about to fall asleep staring at a plate of peas from dinner until bedtime. The meat and potatoes were gone, but there I sat. My mom even tried the "serve them for breakfast" method once too. I went to school hungry.


To this day, I refuse to eat those popping eye balls!

 

[ICWestfan]

I thought it was "starving children in China"? Brought up in a clean plate household. Raised the kids the same way but with the caveat that if you didn't clean your plate there was no dessert/bed time snack.

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

I lived in a clean your plate household.


My mom would load my plate with shit she KNEW I hated. Sadistic woman 😁

We passed the food. You ate what you took but you had to at least try everything. Being the youngest of 5 siblings, I learned to eat fast if I wanted seconds of anything.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

"Europe"??? I was always told it was China and then that eventually changed to Ethiopia.

Clearly an age difference. I was a post-WWII kid, and Europe was still a disaster.

I've read that the South is the fattest part of America. I wonder if that's because it's harder to elicit sympathy for starving African kids there?

Back to Europe. A few years ago I read a terrific book on post-WWII Europe and what it took to get it back on its feet. A lot of American resources poured in. Also a lot of profit made. Nor was it just altruism and profit, because there were huge fears that if we didn't rebuild Europe the way we wanted it, the Soviets would.

Here's that book, for any who are interested. Pulitzer finalist. Note to audiobook lovers, the narrator is quite good.

 

[joelbc1]

That's what we were told when I was a kid. I never understood how clearing my plate was supposed to help starving children in Europe, but since adults were saying it, I figured it must be true . . . somehow.

In retrospect I suppose the message wasn't "you can help them by finishing your food" but more along the lines that "you can show your gratitude that you aren't among the starving by finishing your food."

I'm guessing there aren't a lot of starving children in Europe any more. So clearly I and the kids from my generation did a good job.

I'm now a fat old man living in an increasingly obese America. Food is plentiful and fairly cheap. Do kids today have to be told to clear their plates? If so, which starving children are we saving (or glad we aren't them) these days?

Our church fixes over 200 meals weekly to feed “the poor” in West Des Moines. Actually, to fed kids in one school in old WDM. Poverty and hunger are closer than many realize. That is why I find my governors reticence to accessing Federal funds to feed Iowa citizens and residents mystifying, at best. Iowa is sitting on a $1.8B surplus, but it won’t invest $2M of that to feed its own poor? WhT kind of message is that sending? If Iowans “just naturally do the right thing” ( The Governor’s Favorite description of Iowans at public speaking events) why does its government (made up by Iowans, FOR Iowans) refuse to feed its fellow citizens?

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

"Europe"??? I was always told it was China and then that eventually changed to Ethiopia.

I never heard Europe or China. For me it was “Africa”.

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

My parents lived through the depression. I didn't hear anything like that from them. My siblings all said China.

 

[Scruddy]

If the message is supposed to be based on the idea of gratitude then I'd say it's a lesson worth continuing. That said, there's a lot better ways to reinforce that concept but being wasteful of food (or anything) in general should be discouraged imo.

 

[ClarindaA's]

I despise waste, especially with groceries being so expensive. I only give small portions, and the wife is on board with no snacks for an hour after supper if they didn’t finish their portion.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

We passed the food. You ate what you took but you had to at least try everything. Being the youngest of 5 siblings, I learned to eat fast if I wanted seconds of anything.

I’m down with the try everything rule.


I tried creamed corn, makes me want to vomit, Mom didn’t give 2 shits and still made it weekly and piled it on my plate.

Like I said…sadistic woman.

Love her to death…but sadistic.

 

[goldmom]

"Europe"??? I was always told it was China and then that eventually changed to Ethiopia.

Starving Chinamen was what my Dad said - like every other meal.
Four kids who were told to go outside and play cause the TV wasn’t on all day until The Mickey Mouse Club or Popeye’s Playhouse came on at 4:30. We were so hungry we ate whatever my Mom made, except my baby brother hid peas under his plate. Once. 🤨
My Mom was a really good cook though. No complaints from any of us.

 

[goldmom]

I’m down with the try everything rule.


I tried creamed corn, makes me want to vomit, Mom didn’t give 2 shits and still made it weekly and piled it on my plate.

Like I said…sadistic woman.

Love her to death…but sadistic.

Ever had it in cornbread? Mmm.

 

[goldmom]

If the message is supposed to be based on the idea of gratitude then I'd say it's a lesson worth continuing. That said, there's a lot better ways to reinforce that concept but being wasteful of food (or anything) in general should be discouraged imo.

It was a popular thing to say to your kids in the 50’s because our Dads had seen hungry people during WWII. And both parents had grown up during the Depression when lots of them or their neighbors were very grateful to have anything on the table.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

Ever had it in cornbread? Mmm.

If the disgusting snot consistency is cooked out of it I’m sure it’s palatable.

But to answer your question, no.

 

[OrlandNole]

I never had a problem cleaning my plate. I was a fat child.

 

[NorthernHawkeye]

Food is plentiful and fairly cheap.

Propaganda

 

[goldmom]

Propaganda

Yeah cause nobody minds paying $7 for a jar of mayonnaise. Or $5.29 for a gallon of milk.

 

[joelbc1]

E

Yeah cause nobody minds paying $7 for a jar of mayonnaise. Or $5.29 for a gallon of milk.

you can buy that $7 jar of mayo for $ 3 if you shop and use a coupon...just sayin’ most Americans are not real savvy consumers...they wouldn’t make those coupons if they didn’t want you to use them.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Propaganda

Fairly cheap as a percentage of income. Obviously not as cheap as pre-pandemic.

 

[Scruddy]

It was a popular thing to say to your kids in the 50’s because our Dads had seen hungry people during WWII. And both parents had grown up during the Depression when lots of them or their neighbors were very grateful to have anything on the table.

You can't teach that kind/level of gratitude unfortunately, that has to be learned through raw experience. There's no denying that the younger generation has it a lot better in that regard at least. Now it's "easier" and often times "cheaper" to be fat.

 

[hawkeye54545]

I always heard " Kids in Ethiopia would kill to eat that." The wrong answer was " Well send it to them."

 

[Gimmered]

We passed the food. You ate what you took but you had to at least try everything. Being the youngest of 5 siblings, I learned to eat fast if I wanted seconds of anything.

With 6 kids, my wife understood that there would never be one food that they all liked, so she has always cooked to accommodate. Mealtime is a lot more pleasant that way.

 

[DooBi]

I never heard Europe. It was always Ethiopia.

 

[bagdropper]

If Iowans “just naturally do the right thing” ( The Governor’s Favorite description of Iowans at public speaking events) why does its government (made up by Iowans, FOR Iowans) refuse to feed its fellow citizens?

Because that surplus money isn't for "them" (people needing the help with food). It's for "us" (the people that voted Kim in office).

 

[FAUlty Gator]

That's what we were told when I was a kid. I never understood how clearing my plate was supposed to help starving children in Europe, but since adults were saying it, I figured it must be true . . . somehow.

In retrospect I suppose the message wasn't "you can help them by finishing your food" but more along the lines that "you can show your gratitude that you aren't among the starving by finishing your food."

I'm guessing there aren't a lot of starving children in Europe any more. So clearly I and the kids from my generation did a good job.

I'm now a fat old man living in an increasingly obese America. Food is plentiful and fairly cheap. Do kids today have to be told to clear their plates? If so, which starving children are we saving (or glad we aren't them) these days?

We were told to clean our plates because our parents were making basic meat and three veggies. Today kids don’t need to be told because they’re eating chicken fingers and Mac and cheese every other meal.

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

I can remember sitting at the table about to fall asleep staring at a plate of pees from dinner until bedtime. The meat and potatoes were gone, but there I sat. My mom even tried the "serve them for breakfast" method once too. I went to school hungry.


To this day, I refuse to eat those popping eye balls!

Some weird people drink their pee but I always ate peas😎

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

Propaganda

Bullshit. Food here, as a percentage of income, is by far the cheapest in the world.

 

[alaskanseminole]

Some weird people drink their pee but I always ate peas😎

Maybe that's why I gave my mom such push back.

 

[NorthernHawkeye]

Bullshit. Food here, as a percentage of income, is by far the cheapest in the world.

You don't have an original thought in your head.

 

[seminole97]

I've read that the South is the fattest part of America. I wonder if that's because it's harder to elicit sympathy for starving African kids there?

Close, but not quite.
The South has a disproportionate share of African Americans, who are more likely to be fat.

African American women have the highest rates of obesity or being overweight compared to other groups in the United States. About 4 out of 5 African American women are overweight or obese. In 2018, non-Hispanic blacks were 1.3 times more likely to be obese as compared to non-Hispanic whites.

 

[herkyhawk00]

I lived in a clean your plate household.


My mom would load my plate with shit she KNEW I hated. Sadistic woman 😁

😂. I too lived through it. My dad not only made my siblings and I clean our plates of dinners with canned spinach, which may be the worst texture and taste ever for a vegetable, and several other horrible dishes for kids (ie. Liver, Oyster stew, blood sausage, etc), he also made any friend staying over clean their plates. Always cringy when he would order pizza and some kid didn’t like to eat his crust.

 

[IamHawkeye]

That's what we were told when I was a kid. I never understood how clearing my plate was supposed to help starving children in Europe, but since adults were saying it, I figured it must be true . . . somehow.

In retrospect I suppose the message wasn't "you can help them by finishing your food" but more along the lines that "you can show your gratitude that you aren't among the starving by finishing your food."

I'm guessing there aren't a lot of starving children in Europe any more. So clearly I and the kids from my generation did a good job.

I'm now a fat old man living in an increasingly obese America. Food is plentiful and fairly cheap. Do kids today have to be told to clear their plates? If so, which starving children are we saving (or glad we aren't them) these days?

I thought it was something to do with wasting food by not finishing what' is on the plate.--unless they made you eat it later.

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

You don't have an original thought in your head.

That is rich, coming from a braindead dropout like yourself. Self awareness is, obviously, not in your vocabulary.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

We were told to clean our plates because our parents were making basic meat and three veggies. Today kids don’t need to be told because they’re eating chicken fingers and Mac and cheese every other meal.

The Standard American Diet (SAD).

Actually that's worse than the SAD, but the SAD lives up to its name, healthwise.

 

[Themanintheyellowhat]

Starving Armenians was the line at our house

 

[goldmom]

😂. I too lived through it. My dad not only made my siblings and I clean our plates of dinners with canned spinach, which may be the worst texture and taste ever for a vegetable, and several other horrible dishes for kids (ie. Liver, Oyster stew, blood sausage, etc), he also made any friend staying over clean their plates. Always cringy when he would order pizza and some kid didn’t like to eat his crust.

It sounds awful. Liver and oyster stew are gag-worthy.