The Condition
Like it or not you'll have to finish lunch if you want dessert, the mother told the boy who looked at her with a pleading face, as if he were about to cry.
And it wasn't a tantrum over not wanting to eat vegetables or some chickpea soup. No. It was a daily routine. It didn't matter what was on the menu — the story was always the same.
To the boy's misfortune, he was born in an era when most adult women were raised like princesses and never taught how to cook.
In his case, meals always came frozen in plastic trays, and his mother's job consisted of putting them in the microwave and pressing a button.
If she'd at least bothered to read the instructions on the box, maybe they'd have tasted a little better. But no, they were almost always cold on the inside, and who would want to eat that.
That's why dessert was the bribery tool to get the boy to eat his meals, and it was the only reason that made it worth swallowing whatever his mother called lunch.
La condición
Te guste o no tendrás que terminar el almuerzo si quieres comer el postre, le dijo la madre al niño que la miraba con semblante suplicante como si estuviera a punto de llorar.
Y no es que fuera un berrinche por no querer comerse las verduras o alguna sopa de garbanzos. No. Era una rutina diaria. No importaba cuál fuera el menú la historia era la misma.
Para desgracia del niño, nació en una época en la que la mayoría de las mujeres adultas fueron criadas como princesas y jamás les enseñaron a cocinar.
En su caso, las comidas venían siempre congeladas en cajas de plástico, y la tarea de su madre consistía en meterlas al microondas y apretar un botón.
Si al menos se tomara la molestia de leer las indicaciones de la caja, tal vez sabrían un poco mejor. Pero no, casi siempre estaban frías por dentro, y así quien querría comerse nada.
Por eso el postre era la herramienta de soborno para que el niño comiera las comidas, y eran la única razón que hacía que valiera la pena tragar lo que la madre llamaba almuerzo.
Ilustración hecha con Ideogram
I doubt the microwave and cold food can be blamed. Entire nations eat cooked meals hours later after being cooked without even heating it up. Hungary makes a great example of that.
And indeed if you ask for a hot meal they put it in the microwave, french fries included.
🤢
My mother by the way said the same and she forced me, same like my grandmother, to finish my plate and they served day after day and not heated. The grease and food became hard and mould was included.
Strangely enough on Sundays no dessert if you do not finish your plate didn't count and if I disliked something most it were those Sunday desserts! 🤢🤢
They still make me gag. I could simply not swallow that it hurt my throat besides of the smell.
Children have a very good reason why they refuse to eat.
Chemicals in the food, the smell, pieces of something extra, knowing by instinct they are allergic and if it comes to cooking in certain pans they can be life dangerous,cause cancer and als microwave heated food van put ones health in danger.
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I suppose the context and culture of each country influence those customs. In Paraguay, especially during my childhood and in earlier times, women didn’t work outside the home, and having lunch was almost a ritual. Unless something made it impossible, food was cooked at the moment it was going to be eaten, and if anything was left over, it would be reheated for dinner.
Now, modern life forces everyone to work, and with luck you take a packed meal to work, or if you’re lucky and the salary allows it, you go out to eat at a restaurant. Maybe for us, eating something hot, despite the heat of the climate, feels like a treat.
Now with microwaves and ready-to-heat meals, many households are losing the habit of cooking their own food, which is absurd, precisely because of those dangers you mention. We don’t know what’s in something industrialized, and the longer it lasts on the shelf, the less I trust its ingredients.
It’s a shame that adults aren’t more considerate toward children, and that they think everything children do is just out of whim.
Women in the Netherlands were one the last having to work although my mother did and made it possible for my father to study and once finished he left. Wise lesson: Never help a guy to climb a ladder.
We never had a microwave accept a I had a shelter for the animals. Many with us might have but they still cook. The supermarkets sell for the lazy ones packages with all ingredients (sliced or not) needed for a certain meal.
Those dinner meals are very expensive and most likely only sold for the elderly still living on their own.
Trust me those fastfood dinners or whatever it is are mainly chemicals and salt + some smell added to it. I would not recommend eating that "Bill Gates'" stuff. They already planned to put the Covid shots into the food.
If adults do not care about themselves why should about their children?
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A veces siento que el algoritmo me conoce mejor que yo mismo. Justo lo que necesitaba leer. @ladyaryastark
Que bueno! Deberías unirte a esta actividad, el Daily Prompt de la comunidad CCC. Siempre salen textos interesantes 😉 Feliz domingo!
Esta semana vi algo parecido en la blockchain, me pareció curioso. Bien que lo señalaste acá.
Es muy difícil ser original, quien sabe si algo así no lo leí hace tiempo, y ahora creo que es totalmente mío 🤣 Gracias por comentar, que tengas un excelente día 😊
@ladyaryastark, me gustó la sinceridad con la que escribiste. No hay nada más poderoso que alguien que habla desde lo que vivió.
Puedo dar gracias de no haberlo vivido, soy de otra generación, y mi mamá cocina riquísimo, por suerte aprendió de mi abuela paterna 😊
Gracias por comentar, que tengas un feliz domingo