Parents no longer tell children reluctant to eat a certain food “Children in China are starving.”
“Let’s mail the meatloaf to starving children!”
My generation had to suffer through guilt at not eating, because somewhere in China a child was dying from lack of food. I am actually sure ,that when I was a young child, most of the children living under the rule of Chairman Mao were fed fairly well. My mother was simply repeating what she had heard as a child. Chinese children were better fed under communist rule. Godless but rice bowls filled, parents can no longer use Chinese children to get their American children to clean their plates.
I never believed, as many of my friends did, that eating everything on my plate made some child in China say “I feel much better, I don’t think I’ll die today!” Instead, I asked, more than once, if perhaps I could just mail my meatloaf to China. My problem wasn’t clearing my plate, my problem was my mother’s meatloaf.
I ate everything else with ease. I wasn’t fond of peas, but I could eat them if they were served with mashed potatoes. Mixed all together, it’s still the only way I eat peas.
But my mother’s meatloaf had something wrong with it. I could not choke it down. The rest of the family happily ate it. My mother would point out I could eat hamburgers, so why not her meatloaf. All I know is it had things in it. She wouldn’t just mold the ground beef, she had a recipe and would add things. I remember breadcrumbs, eggs, onions, celery and various spices. Something she added looked like insect legs after baking. Something else had a real crunch, perhaps it was a bit of egg shell or perhaps it was a dead beetle.
I was once spanked for not eating the meatloaf. Actually I had been informed I WOULD eat it. I tried, and threw up right onto my dinner plate after ingesting beetle parts. Or maybe a bit of eggshell. We’ll never know for sure.
After that the family gave up. The spanking reinforced my aversion to meatloaf.
Ready to poison me again, mom in her kitchen
When people ask if there is anything I can not eat, I’m sure they are a bit surprised when I say “Meatloaf.” I know they really want to know if I am a vegetarian or vegan, but it’s important they know I am a non meatloafarian. I won’t eat it. My problem is memories of guilt for starving Chinese children and that spanking. I also I have never made, nor will I ever make, meatloaf.
Hamburgers, yes.
Meatballs, yes.
Meatloaf, never.
I’m sorry China.
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Categories: Food
Two Different Girls 
I was like that with pea soup for years. Now I can choke it down but I am a long way from liking it.
Sprouts were the bane of my life. I was always told they were good for me but it was like trying to eat sweaty socks. Even today I loathe them. A care package to Africa was what was always needed on a Sunday in our house.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx