I sat down with my dinner at a church pot bless. At the periphery of my sightline, I saw Elsa walking around the two tables laden with at least twenty variety of dishes. She was holding a plate filled with two scoops of white rice.
Elsa's mum is a vegetarian. Her dad practises a see-food-eat-food diet. Elsa is short and slight for her age. She could probably help herself to the food stuff at the side of the big rectangular buffet tables. Definitely she could not reach what were placed in the inner reaches of the long and wide space.
Interestingly no one walk up to help her. I did think about rising to offer some help but she disappeared from the serving area momentarily. Shortly after that some one sat down next to me and we started an interesting conversation.
Personally I don't eat chicken. Neither do I cook chicken dishes. Yet my husband and children would eat their favourite fried chicken or curry chicken I bought for dinner at home now and then.
Of course the dynamix of each family is different. Elsa's mum observes a restricted dietary list. The son and the father are easy going and eat any food within sight. For Elsa, it was sad. She refused to eat what was served and would prefer to go hungry than give in.
I often wonder how my Chinese vegetarian friends train their children not to eat meat outside of home. One of my primary school classmates was born a Taoist but turned into a strict vegetarian Buddhist with the faith of a Taiwanese sect at the age of 21. Her husband joined her in terms of both religion and dietary practises after marriage. Her son never eat meat of any kind and he has been residing in New Zealand since age 12. He is past 30 years old now and is the dad of a 3 year old daughter. His wife is a vegetarian too.
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