The perils of being normal

When engaging in cross-cultural activities, most of us try very hard not to give offence in the country in which we are staying. Having said that, there is often a clash of cultures (not necessarily in a dramatic way). An example of this clash would be the meal times between Spain and Australia. The Spanish generally have a fairly light breakfast around 8.00 am or later, depending on when they start work. Lunch is around 3.00 pm and is the largest and generally most important meal of the day, with dinner being somewhere between 9.00 pm at the earliest and 10.00 pm. In Australia, breakfast will be between 6.00-7.00 am for most people, lunch around 12.30 - 1.30 pm and dinner around 7.00pm. These types of clashes will often be sorted very easily and with some bemusement on either side but no ongoing problems.

 

One thing I have noticed in Spain, particularly if you are staying with locals, is that meals tend to be quite large. One of their ways of ensuring that you are comfortable and happy, is to feed you - lots, and then more, and then ask if you want more. While I generally have quite a healthy appetite, I don't like eating huge meals at every mealtime. I find eating big meals frequently quite uncomfortable and feel a need to give my stomach a break from constant digestion. I don't know about others specifically, but apart from the amount of food I like to consume at mealtimes, I have days where I'm too tired / hot or for no particular reason, just don't feel hungry. This can also depend on what I've eaten, how much exercise I've had or how much sleep I've had. Generally, when these moments occur, I either eat very lightly or don't bother.

 

My first week in Spain was a clash about how much I should eat. Managed to convince my hosts that I really liked the food but wasn't used to eating so much and that if I kept eating everything they offered, I'd have to buy another seat for my trip home. Excellent, no pressure to eat everything and could stop when I was ready so long as I promised to tell them if I didn't like something. During my second week, all was well. Then yesterday was a day where I just didn't feel hungry. Forced myself to eat breakfast as I rarely miss this meal and it is a long time till lunch in Spain, had a normal-ish amount for lunch, but really didn't want any dinner. As dinner was soup to start and is always served with bread, I decided I would just have soup and a drink. I was a bit tired so had planned to have an early night.

 

Then the interrogation started:

 

Was the food okay? Did I like it? Was I unwell? Did I want something else? Had someone upset me or something happen? Did I have a headache? It took over 30 minutes to convince Carmen I liked the food, I wasn't unwell or unhappy and nothing had happened - I just wasn't hungry and this was normal for me and happened occasionally for no specific reason. The time taken to convince Carmen all was well, wasn't because of communication / language barrier but due to Carmen's very real concern that she needed to either feed me something else or fix a problem. I wonder.......Do Spaniards ever not want to eat a lot and have a low appetite or for them, is it a universal sign of not being well / unhappiness?  You know, like corgis who will eat everything in sight and if they refuse food, you know something is wrong! If it's only for one day, no problem but if not eating persists, get them to the vet.  

 

I had to be very careful to eat a reasonable amount (for Spain) today to stop my temperature being checked!! Still not feeling overly hungry.

 

The moral of this experience?  Perhaps try telling my hosts before the meal that I'm not hungry and see what happens.