Eat like a lady...

I love this story. It's so true. In addition to all the other rules concerning gender, certain foods are often associated with femininity and masculinity. As is the amount of food one can eat. You know the women who will never eat more than a corn cobbette and 1/4 of a chicken breast at the backyard barbecue. (Even the little girl pictured here knows you should at least TRY to eat the whole ear. Gimme' a break...)

Or how about the dainty ladies who move food around their plates for 3o minutes before finally sighing and exclaiming, "I am absolutely STUFFED!" "Starved," I want to say. "You meant you are starved..." And while it wouldn't be uncommon to hear someone say, "My son eats like a horse," and mean it to be a good thing, I've never heard anyone say, "Wow! My daughter sure can put it away! That's awesome. She is, after all, a growing girl!"

So why do boys get steaks while girls get salads? And I'm talking iceberg and fat-free something or other, not the entree salads so many of us on this blog know and love. And I know it, unfortunately, goes the other way. I can recall going out to dinner with a guy who told the server, "I'll just have a salad." That was our first and last date. I couldn't be with a guy who eats less than I do...

That is why I love Nigella Lawson... Neither she nor I would ever opt for just a half of an ear of corn when the whole thing is sitting right there next to the salted, creamy butter...

So to all my girlfriends out there, especially the hungry ones: Eat what you love, enjoy every morsel, and always remember "everything in moderation, including moderation." Then you, too, can eat like a lady. Assuming you chew with your mouth closed...