The food; before the meat

"In this part of the world, it is bad manners for a child to eat the meat before the main food. The meat in the food is a reward, it should be slowly enjoyed"_ Nigerian Proverb

This proverb says a lot to me, starting from my kiddy days. How I eat and even my amateur thinking. All I can do now is remember some of my memories and blush over them, but still there is a lesson to learn . We didn't eat like the white people with a fork and spoon. All we needed was just a plate and a spoon and with that, we can finish a whole cow in a plate. Lol!

It is this years that we began using the cutleries like the whites do, using a fork to eat our food and a knife to cut meat. A knife and a fork has no business on a dining table In my house these days as a kid. The knife has its place in the kitchen and never leaves there for any reason while there was no fork at all but spoons of different designs washed neatly and stored in a cupboard or cabinet.

From the days as I can remember, my parents would sometimes serve us their kids differently in one plate, while they eat closely in theirs. Most times, we eat together and it is very uncommon to see one person eat without another. Our teeth were our sharpest knife in cutting and chewing meat in our food and it is a routine to eat the food before eating the meat. Except for the fact that one person got fed up and will not have to wait for others, only then is the person allowed to take meat.

That was just how we grew up. We were taught in school how to use cutleries to eat but it all ended there, we never practiced it both in school and at home but now, we are living with cutleries at home. We have everything on the dining table ready, we have all the spoons and forks including knives which are always available in the house.

Back to the proverb... ''In this part of the world, it is bad manners for a child to eat the meat before the main food. The meat in the food is a reward, it should be slowly enjoyed"

I'll be breaking this proverb down into two and the first is

• "Bad manners of eating the meat before the main food"

And secondly

• "Slowly enjoying the meat as a reward after the food"

One significant thing here is that there is food and meat to eat, eating the food first before the meat determines a good manner and not otherwise. Anyone could just eat up everything at once because at last, they will be inside the stomach. But why must there be a procedure for that? That's exactly what I am trying to explain in my understanding.... stay with me

The first break down "Bad manners of eating the meat before the main food"

We are all hungry for success and life presents us with an opportunity as "food", an opportunity to excel and fulfill our plans and life goals. Now either we take the opportunity or leave it. If we grab the opportunity, good luck to us, we have made a start to the fulfilment of the future and gladly build it. In the process of starting, we might be having struggles and difficulties because it is not the picture we have in our mind that we are seeing in reality. Our mind is filled with what we want to be; the result and forgetting the process. Even the clear picture in our mind has to be worked on before having that perfect display.

When we are not strong enough to face the difficulties and challenges at the start, focusing on the picture and the result in our mind, we are eating the meat already without knowing. It is a bad business manner to give up when challenges come and like the motivational speakers would say "face your challenges, they make you greater". When the meat which might be sweater than the food has been eaten, the food might not taste the same again.

You really can't eat your cake and have it. I know some people who were given a huge amount of money to start a business of their dream but in the process, they gave up.

The second break down

"Slowly enjoying the meat as a reward after the food"

After the rain comes shine, it is the person that works will eat. Every successful person has a story to tell, a story of difficulty and temptations, fights that they have won to be whatever they are. The price they paid will surely be a blessing. People who eat the meat after the food have followed the manner of how things work, for they have laboured and are enjoying the fruit of their labor in comfort and relaxation.

At some point in life, patience is needed. People say that life is like a journey, we will all arrive. It just a matter of time and consistency, we will be there where people who we look upto are. We don't have to copy the result and forgot the process. If I see someone enjoying meat, I would simply imagine that the person already finished eating. I will think so because that is the normal way things are supposed to be.

Thanks for reading lovelies. I wish you all the best in whatever we do. Big thanks to my readers and subscribers, and my generous sponsors. I appreciate you all. See you in my next article and bye for now.

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