Help me understand something, why do poor people take pride in being picky?

[xbuzzerx]

I just want my $7.49 large bowl of Pho. danx

Oh god yes. Bring me.

 

[Rickrock]

I am a little bit picky about what I eat and I know others who are also. I never noticed whether or not there is any economic correlation. People who are more open minded or who are more socially mobile might try something new, but after that they would probably develope a preference or dislike of what they tried.

This thread brought to mind something I recently heard about. Someone I know of who is recently unemployed went to a food bank and was given some food. They could not choose what they were given but were just given a bag of food. There were some items in the bag which they did not care for so they passed them on to my sister to use and not waste, but my sister is adequately employed. She was somehwat chagrined because she donates to a food bank for the poor and thought that it wouldn't be right for the donations to be used by someone who is employed. She passed the items on to another food bank to give out.

 

[eastofeden]

Just an FYI ...

If you are interested in hearing more on the subject check out Karel's Podcast...dated 1-9-13 Hour 1

He is an openly gay radio talk show host and comedian/lecturer/author ect.

http://www.radiokrl.com/

It is halfway down on the right side of the page.

 

[eastofeden]

I'm poor as dirt. Over the last week, I've consumed less than 3500 calories. This is because all I have in my cupboard is tomato soup (which I literally cannot eat; it makes me violently ill), and things that require milk, which I can't afford because I'm poor.

Does your community have resources to help get you food? I don't know if you are in California or not but there are new programs I have read about recently which allow everyone who needs it to get access to fresh and healthy foods.

 

[eastofeden]

Do they have local churches or a Salvation Army that prepares meals? I have a store in a downtown area and I hire homeless people to do all the jobs I need done and I have helped alot of people find ways to eat every day of the week. I know it depends on the area in which you reside though. The Salvation Army in alot of places serves lunch every day.

 

[eastofeden]

We don't have a Salvation Army here. I live in a town of 10000, so there's almost no social support network here to speak of. I've exhausted every option I could find. The good news is that I'm hopefully going to be moving into an apartment soon that's only $400 a month (with a government rent subsidy), as opposed to the exorbitant $600 I'm paying for a one-bedroom with no windows, so I doubt I'll be starving once I get to that point. Three years of malnutrition is long enough.

I am glad to hear that. I hope it happens sooner than later...I wish you the best. I am sorry about the situation you are in though but I guess in a smaller town there would be fewer options.

 

[xbuzzerx]

I'm poor as dirt. Over the last week, I've consumed less than 3500 calories. This is because all I have in my cupboard is tomato soup (which I literally cannot eat; it makes me violently ill), and things that require milk, which I can't afford because I'm poor.

Oh, and I'll eat literally anything. I've made a whole meal of a tin of tuna before (yes, just a tin of tuna), and because I hadn't eaten for two full days before I happened across it, it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten.

I hear you Ashy.

I had to learn to make everything I could out of pancake mix when I was always completely out of money for the last week of every month. I've been there. It sucks.

 

[Benvolio]

I'm poor as dirt. Over the last week, I've consumed less than 3500 calories. This is because all I have in my cupboard is tomato soup (which I literally cannot eat; it makes me violently ill), and things that require milk, which I can't afford because I'm poor.

Oh, and I'll eat literally anything. I've made a whole meal of a tin of tuna before (yes, just a tin of tuna), and because I hadn't eaten for two full days before I happened across it, it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten.

The solution is simple. Cross the border to the US and enjoy our massive cornucopia of freebies. Illegals get food stamps. 100 million people in the US get welfare and that does not include Social Security or Medicare. Soon free health policies.

 

[xbuzzerx]

I can see that you no longer have a bitter attitude towards the election results.

Totally. Not at all.

 

[doctorsun]

As a poor person myself, I'm offended by the notion that, since I am poor, it's expected that I be grateful for every moldy crust of bread that is thrown to me. Just because I don't have money doesn't mean that I should be forced to eat garbage. Every human has the right to be picky and only eat the things he or she enjoys.

 

[pat grimshaw]

^
Beggars can't be choosers, Doctor

 

[doctorsun]

^
Beggars can't be choosers, Doctor

Who said anything about begging? I've never begged for food in my life. If I can't afford something, I do without rather than ask for charity. As far as I could understand, the OP never said anything about these "poor people" asking for hand-outs and as such, there shouldn't have been any expectation of willingness on their part to eat anything that happened to be presented to them.

You are correct that beggars can't be choosers but as long as there is no begging go on, people have to right to like what they like.

 

[pat grimshaw]

How about—
'Those who receive food from strangers, shouldn't insult the givers'

 

[xbuzzerx]

How about—
'Those who receive food from strangers, shouldn't insult the givers'

What do any of these bizarre things you say have to do with someone having certain things they like to eat and certain things they don't like to eat?

Yes, humans will eat mealworms or human corpses to survive if they have to. It doesn't mean they have to like it.

 

[doctorsun]

How about—
'Those who receive food from strangers, shouldn't insult the givers'

Again, this wasn't a case of someone donating food to them. From what the OP explained, he's talking about social settings in which groups of friends go out to eat together and certain people having opinions about where they should go. The OP also said he voluntarily picks up the bill after the fact. At no point, from the OP's explanations, was there any mention of food being "given" to these people beforehand. So, again, there was no request for charity from the "poor people" and no direct offer of charity from the "affluent people" and therefore, there shouldn't have been any expectation for the "poor people" to just silently go along with whatever the "affluent people" decided.

 

[pat grimshaw]

^ Oh, I didn't see all that background information; I thought people were talking about the US welfare crisis and about its poor economic performance.

 

[xbuzzerx]

^ Oh, I didn't see all that background information; I thought people were talking about the US welfare crisis and about its poor economic performance.

Yes living in the U.S. I'm sure you know many of these stories personally, enough to make broad generalizations right?

 

[pat grimshaw]

^ as broad as everything else here

 

[doctorsun]

^ Oh, I didn't see all that background information; I thought people were talking about the US welfare crisis and about its poor economic performance.

Even people on welfare are allowed to choose what they eat.

 

[xbuzzerx]

Even people on welfare are allowed to choose what they eat.

That's what those programs are there for, ideally to ensure a minimum of dignity so that no one is stepping over a corpse the first day of spring.

Not as some kind of sick social engineering tool to remind people how worthless they are and how grateful they should be for freebies.