What is the point of sharing food? I want to understand

[Dreadful Dante]

Before reading this, consider it's not a starvation, survival or selfish situation.

I never understood why people shared food. My mother raised to share but to this day I'm pissed when someone wants to take a bite of my food (I'm not an only child). It doesn't make any sense.

If I make a sandwich the size of my hunger, then I have to share it with someone, it's no longer my sandwich, it's theirs and I have to make another one for myself.

And then I'm blamed for acting selfish and rude. I'm handing them my food, how is that rude?

Why do people do this?
Can someone explain why people share food? Specially small portions, why? If it tastes good and the person is hungry, why don't they get one for themselves instead of wanting mine?

My mother often says she wants a bite of my sandwich because it looks so good. But she already knows the taste of it, because I've been making the same type of sandwich my entire life. Why would she eat just one bite? That doesn't suffice to kill hunger. How do I explain to someone that if I share my food it's no longer mine? And if it's split, it's not sufficient to my caloric needs. Also the germ thing.

Why do people share food?

Peacefully,
Dante.

 

[pax]

Sounds weird to me.
The only time I can understand people sharing food, is if you are in a restaurant, with someone you know very well, and you both decide you like the look of two items on the menu. So one person orders one dish, one person orders another, and they share or have a taste of each others. Or if you are in a tapas bar, or Asian restaurant, where there are "share plates" and separate plates and serving implements. Otherwise it's just a weird concept to me.

P.S. I was in a restaurant years ago with a bunch of people for a party or something, and not everyone knew everyone else. After the waitress brought out several of the meals, and we agreed that those who had been served should start, the waitress came out and declared that she'd given the dish to the wrong person, and "Just give it to him, you haven't eaten much from it".
The manager got called.

 

[Dreadful Dante]

EEWWW! That sounds awful!

I've recently read that sharing food with strangers is something abominable to "everyone". It's instinctive to only share with the ones we know are healthy and couldn't possibly spread diseases through their saliva.

I cringed reading that story. It's worse than horror movies.

 

[garnetflower13]

Well, when I first met my husband, we were in a social group for Aspies and we went out to dine. He invited me to taste some of his supper because I said it looked good, and I guess he did this to show that he liked me. That is the only condition under which I don't think it is rude to share one's meal. Otherwise, I have always found it annoying when somebody wants to eat something I have prepared for myself. It seems it is a sort of intimate thing to do? Just guessing.

 

[Mia]

Sometimes it is appropriate, sharing food that is. In restaurants where people order many kinds of dishes and everyone helps themselves so they taste different types of food, without having to eat the entire dish. Some Asian cultures do this at family meals.

Yet if someone asked me for a bite of my sandwich I might find that annoying. Almost as if they were taking something from me. I could possibly refuse or give them the entire sandwich, and then make another. It might be more a lack of respect for someone's personal food that belongs to them, like taking food from someone's plate while they are eating.

When I was a teen I had a summer job as an aupair, and the child I looked after could have anything they wanted, including the food from my plate, which they could take. Found that distasteful and disrespectful.

 

[Dreadful Dante]

It is indeed something intimate, cultural or environmental. The closer someone is to us the more probable for us to share with. That is the condition. For me, it's still weird.

Thank you for your answers. I think the only proper time for that to happen would be for knowing the best orders.

 

[Judge]

Reminds me of what shouldn't be a big deal, however at the time I thought it was. When I was making very little money working and the branch manager's secretary saw me eating my lunch at my desk and asked me if she could have some of it. I was really eating very little back then to save money....and I felt so exploited because of who she was at the time. I made a political decision and let her eat what amounted to a pitiful fourth of my lunch.

Maybe she didn't realize it wasn't an appetizer, but the main course!

 

[Dreadful Dante]

I know how that feels.

 

[CeasarKungPow]

Oh yeah. Even sharing a large packet of crisps. I hate having to share from the same plate. If someone puts their hand near my food I freak out completely, no matter who they are!!! I used to get violent and aggressive, lose my appetite or throw away food. I've learned to eat alone. Have it if you want, just don't expect me to be happy about it or keep eating after you've had a bit. It is gross and unhygienic. Biting it leaves all sorts of germs and bits of the other person behind. Even if someone walks past while I eat I imagine all the skin cells falling of on my food. I even become uncomfortable if at the same table as others. Everyone is talking and spreading saliva all over the food. Not to mention that not everyone washes their hands as meticulously as I do. It's EASIER with family, but far from comfortable.

 

[Dreadful Dante]

Exactly, Ceaser!

It's like seeing shoes inside a bathtub. Or walking barefooted outside. It just doesn't feel right.