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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I hope all the other cultures are taking note of why "americans so easily cut off family" -- at least you guys are getting fed![/quote]
Yeah, I grew up in an Eastern European family where too little food was never an issue. My mother and aunts might have a host of personality issues,[b] but if they ever suspected one of their guests might leave the table hungry, they would have committed ritual suicide due to the shame. [/b]I’ve found this to be true of people of all non-WASP backgrounds.

Letting your guests go hungry is the sign of a terrible person.[/quote]

+1  Grew up Catholic and DH is African American - you don't exit our house without a go plate and that's on non-holidays.  [b]The idea of someone walking away hungry is genuinely upsetting to me, and as people in our families get older they may eat less personally but they're constantly checking on younger people to see whether they need seconds or are feeling peckish.[/b]  WASPs on these boards seem miserable in general, though.[/quote]

This is so relatable. I come from Irish/German Catholics on both sides. I have internalized this big time. Anytime I have guests, I go overboard on options and portions. For someone to be hungry is simply not an option. We can always have leftovers to snack on between meals if it's too much :lol:  Married into a semi-WASPy family. They aren't terrible, but definitely less food centric. Once my FIL asked me if I had a tapeworm, because I was having a snack.... I was a size 4 at the time  :roll: [/quote]

I come from the other kind of Irish-American. Filled with self-loathing, both distrustful of pleasure and highly addictive, horrible cooks and mostly taste blind. By the time I was a kid, they had mostly stopped drinking, so every holiday was sticky buns and coffee and cigarettes, followed by chocolate chip cookies and coffee and cigarettes. No meals until roast beef and potatoes at 6:00. I loved it.[/quote]

DP.  The southern Appalachian, Scots-Irish side of my family would be horrified at the idea of not providing enough food for guests to feel truly stuffed.  Some of my Midwestern in-laws are a bit more like what OP describes, and it just boggles my mind, especially when they try to enforce that behavior on very young children.
My DD is extremely petite for her age so, yes, FIL, she does in fact need that full-fat milk and yogurt, and some protein options as snacks.  Pediatrician said so[/quote]

NP.  Sorry, I can’t help myself; I have to chime in here.

I’m Greek, and like the earlier poster, such a situation would be inconceivable to us.  There are a few cornerstones of Greek culture, among them:  giving food is showing love (and there can never been too much love/food); good hospitality (ie providing well for your guests) is a matter of personal, family, and national honor (this goes all the way back to ancient times – it’s a key theme in the Odyssey, which DD is currently reading in school); and a grandparents’ purpose in life is to spoil their grandchildren.  We go too far on the other side (I remember a PSA on heavy rotation on Greek TV during one of the summers I was visiting relatives in the 70’s, showing a loving grandma stuffing her grandchild who was overweight and couldn’t easily play soccer – the tag line was something like Being Overweight Can Cut Life Short).  And like PP, if a host or hostess suspected that a guest left the table or their house hungry, they probably would commit ritual suicide in shame also.  Remember that exchange in my Big Fat Greek Wedding -- Maria (mom):  Ian, are you hungry? Ian: No, I’m full, I just ate. Maria: Okay, I fix you something.  It’s a Greek thing.

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