Food Discrimination

From 2009-06-27 001

I have decided, through personal experience, that there is discrimination against "larger" people in the food serving industry. Saturday when we went to the turkey dinner at the Manti Tabernacle, I experienced it, yet another time. As I waited anxiously in line for my plate of special marinated turkey breast with mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy and a roll, I watched the servers dolling out plentiful helpings. The two young girls (less than 12) ahead of me received slabs of turkey large enough to serve a family of four. Yes, this was my kind of "ward dinner" where you went away filled to the brim with good, home-style cooking. As I held out my place, I saw the server eye me, then reach into the crock pot and pull out a thin slice of delectable turkey and place it on my plate. It was almost as if I could hear the thoughts in her mind, "This man has obviously eaten too much in his lifetime. You don't have a gut like that without gluttony. I will help him out by limiting his food intake, even if just this one time. I know he heeds people to stop him from overeating himself to an early death." Now, I don't see myself as large as some other people may see me. In fact, I am really not that much overweight. I am just big boned (and it must be exceptionally large lower ribs that account for the extended abdomen). I do not, however, feel that it is the right of other people in positions of authority (like determining my portion size) to execute an act of discrimination and dole out a portion of food barely adequate for a 6 year old (well, a larger six year old). I enjoyed my four bites of turkey with my mashed potatoes (equally doled out to all with an icecream scoop - although my scoop was scraped and some weren't), green beans and gravy. All in all, it was a delicious meal and I didn't leave feeling like I had over eaten. After we made our way back to our seats, I soothed my hurt feelings over the food serving discrimination by eating a box of Little Debbie, fudge dipped granola bars (and yes, I did eat the entire box, and no Mr. Federal Trade Commission, I didn't receive any free boxes of granola bars for mentioning them in my blog).