Email reply to eating taboos.
It's been a while since I add more taboos to our Pantang list. Lately I received an email from Seoul asking me to explain some of the eating taboos I've listed on this site. However, what I know is pretty limited, I apologies if this is inadequate."hi there. thanks for taking an interest in us. hee...
Sad to say, I am unable to provide you with more information as they are all sayings pass on from our grandparents to our parents. No reasons are given. I personally felt that most of these taboos are used as a "scared" tactics to "frighten" the children into behaving properly.
1. Always finish your rice-> or your future partner will have spotted face or be plain ugly (why?)
Personal opinion: it's a Chinese teaching to be frugal with our resources, to never waste unnecessarily, hence parents will want to encourage their children to finish up their share of food. They will trick the child into believing that one grain of rice left to waste will turn into one blemish spot on their partner.
2. Do not place your bowl on top of the plate-> this signifies a serving to our dead parents (why?)
Personal opinion: Chinese are particularly taboo on anything that has close or similar associations to death. For some reasons unknown to me, sometimes in a funeral when food was offered, a plate was placed under the bowl either to make it more respectful or to make it more presentable. Or there could be a hidden meaning to this and the meanings were lost along the way. Hence anything that closely resembles what was practice in a funeral wake becomes a taboo.
3. Never eat the last piece of food-> or you will never find a soul mate in your life (why?)
Personal opinion again: Chinese believe it’s rude and ill manner to be greedy. Whenever we are sharing something nice on the plate with everyone else, we should always be considerate enough to ensure we didn’t finish everything up so that someone else will get a share. However, it also means the last piece of goodies will often go to waste! Now, doesn’t that contradict with the first point to be frugal? Why soul mates? Probably because the gentlemen in the group are more likely to attract girls than the greedy ones that constantly stuff themselves with food! Kekeke…
I think over a few generations, some of these taboos were taken seriously and blindly pass on to the next generation. Some of them might have come from other races in Singapore but being multicultural here means most of these origins has merge and taken up by anyone who believes them regardless of their race or religions. If we look deeper into the reasons why these taboos are created, we will find that most taboos started with a good intention to encourage the right moral values and respects for one another. Don’t take them seriously, but they sure are interesting to know. :D
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Thank you Grace for your email. Good luck with your presentation.
posted by Joan @ 1:15 PM
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