# Do you gorge on "free food"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430 "2018-12-20T16:52:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/21 "2018-12-21T08:47:46Z")
Quite a few non-Asian cultures have the little “never accept on the 1st offer, no matter how hungry/thirsty/cold” dance routine, too. Annoying as all hell - say what you mean, and mean what you say! Anyway, to answer the O.P. I have appetite problems and eat like the proverbial bird most of the time. Pretty much anything, I nibble. Except. Movie theater popcorn. With the yellow “butter” goo that I know makes asbestos seem healthy. I will eat however much is within arm’s reach, up to and yes even past the “get sick” point. Extra butter goo, please. And since I’m a girl and grew up in Ye Olden Days I didn’t buy much of it. Weird, I push away a half-eaten plate at most meals, but somehow movie theater popcorn turns me into cattle at the trough. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/22 "2018-12-21T13:26:08Z")
I used to, and on rare occasionally I still may today but there was a time in-between that I would rarely. This was due to the time where I was on a strict Atkins diet, and began to notice that all the free stuff was mostly carb based, which also relates to cheap low quality foods. Yes I was addicted to free food, till I realized the nutritional content and how poor carbs are, and came up with a saying to deter me from gorging them, and that is ‘carbohydrates are free’, which means that there was no value to that food, thus they are giving away nothing, and nothing is nothing to get excited over receiving. That is still with me to this day, I do feel high carb foods are of low value, and don’t like to get them, and feel ripped off if I pay for them as I know they are not worth much in any sense of the word. But when the free food is meat based or other protein based I feel more that is of real value, though that may come out getting seconds, not really gorging, but perhaps again on rare occasions I will. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/23 "2018-12-21T13:52:47Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > I never understood the “eat more, it’s free!” thought process. It’s not like you can store it in your cheeks for later. You can most definitely “store” food for later. Meaning, if I eat lots and lots of food now, I may be OK without eating anything else, or very little, today. I used to do it all the time when I was younger and the opportunity presented itself regularly. One can really save time and money by taking on free food. Prolly paid my first PC with the savings, heh. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/24 "2018-12-21T14:39:47Z")
I’m more likely to eat food if it’s free than if I have to pay for it, but I’ve also developed better eating habits over the years, so I might nosh a bit on free food in the break room, I’m not going to pig out. If there are donuts, I’ll get a knife and cut a donut in half, because half a donut will usually be as much as I want. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/25 "2018-12-21T14:49:56Z")
I’m a little suspicious of free food. I’ll more than likely pass in most cases. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/26 "2018-12-21T15:02:06Z")
I tend not to gorge on anything where the public has access to the food. Not judging, it’s just unappealing to me. That said, I sure do miss the days where I could eat a 16oz ribeye with a big heaping side of mashed potatoes in one sitting. These days, my version of “gorging” is finishing that quarter pound hamburger from McDonald’s. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/27 "2018-12-21T15:20:57Z")
The one constant in being a journalist is that there is always food arriving in the office: whether it’s a food reporter bringing back something, or PR people trying to bribe us, or just someone sending a thank you. (I’ve always said that if people really disliked news, they could just REDACTED BECAUSE PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY DO IT.) So I now use my co-workers as food testers and only go for something if it’s truly special. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/28 "2018-12-21T15:40:02Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > I tend not to gorge on anything where the public has access to the food. Not judging, it’s just unappealing to me. Yeah, I can’t remember the last time I went to any restaurant where there is a buffet line. I’ve seen too many unsupervised kids grabbing food, taking a bite, and throwing it back in the bin. Also, anything that requires something called a “sneeze shield” is not for me. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/29 "2018-12-21T18:06:55Z")
To the OP - it’s not often I feel compelled to reply to a thread to share my thoughts just for the hell of it, but this thread is so me. > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > See, this is the thing. I used to eat whatever was being offered at work, until I realized that I was eating it for no other reason _except that it was offered._ If it wasn’t there, I’d not eat it and be perfectly fine with that. I was letting other people decide what I was going to eat? Screw that. Also, I suspected it was something of a behavior carried over from the days when I was poor (“Free stuff? Grab it!”) and I found it embarrassing that I could still be motivated in that way. First part is definitely true for me. Second part, not so much - I’ve never been poor, even as a student on a relatively limited budget I was never at the point of going hungry. And yet, I still have the “seafood diet” (old joke - I see food, I eat it) mentality. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I spent 9 months learning to eat only when I was hungry. If someone offers me free food and I am not hungry, I ask if I can have one “for later.” Yes, occasionally I do overeat, but I never eat again till I am really hungry. > > For donuts, I usually have one with coffee. And the 1/2 that someone left in the box. This is a key to losing weight and/or maintaining a healthy weight for me, unfortunately I just haven’t got the hang of it yet. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Losing weight, or just not gaining weight, isn’t easy. It involves self-denial. But some self-denial is easier than others. If I can deny myself the stuff that I don’t really enjoy or derive much pleasure from, I have more room to indulge in the stuff that’s really worth it. Agreed, as I said above. It’s something I’m going to have to keep more of an eye on as I get older. > [@corkboard](#): > > I never understood the “eat more, it’s free!” thought process. It’s not like you can store it in your cheeks for later. Why eat to the point of discomfort just because someone else is paying for it? Ok, now I’m uncomfortably full, but I really got one over on the suckers who paid for me to overindulge, didn’t I? Ha! > > I’ve also found that most of the time, free food is unhealthy & filling, or junk/lower quality. So, no thanks. For me, I like the feeling of being full - even uncomfortably full (well, up to a point). So I don’t have that trigger to stop. Combined with a large capacity for junk food and a reasonably fast metabolism, I can easily eat way more than I need to. > [@elbows](#): > > I don’t have this trigger. Free available food presents no real lure, even if I’m hungry. Maybe it’s from years of catering/serving when you’re always around available food? There has to be something I truly like or feel like eating, and I’m a small portion eater, so it never nears gorging. > > I don’t keep chips at home, low sodium diet, so I’ll have a few of those because…treat. But that’s the full extent of it. Free or available never affects what I’ll eat or how much. I used to occasionally work shifts as a food server, usually at big corporate events. It was common for food to come back to the kitchen literally untouched (especially desserts). If there was a corridor between the dining area and the kitchen, where you would be out of sight of both the customers and the kitchen staff for a few seconds, I would often see whether I could sneak a couple of mouthfuls of whatever it was - I was a student at the time, not poor but what they were having was obviously nicer than my normal diet! Plus I really hate to see good food wasted. > [@Barbarian](#): > > The one constant in being a journalist is that there is always food arriving in the office: whether it’s a food reporter bringing back something, or PR people trying to bribe us, or just someone sending a thank you. I’m not a journalist but our office is terrible/great for this, too - unhealthy snacks are nearly always readily available, and I consume more than my fair share. Indeed, this evening is a prime example - having had a big lunch and several sweet treats afterwards, I really am full. And I will have dinner when I get home in a couple of hours. But all my team have left, and there is a piece of stollen that won’t last over the weekend, and even though I already had some earlier and I wasn’t that special - I just ate it. I don’t regret it, but it’s far from ideal behaviour, of course. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/30 "2018-12-21T19:11:33Z")
If the food offerings are entrees and sides, my portions are quite normal. If it’s finger-food/hors d’oeuvres/nibblements, I can gorge. It’s like my eyes/brain/stomach sees tiny bite-sized food stuffs and doesn’t ever signal, “Okay, you’re full, so stop eating.” Good thing sushi generally isn’t free. ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/31 "2018-12-21T21:17:59Z")
No, I don’t, even though my body burns through food faster than a crematory. The only thing worthwhile my grandmother taught me, was to not help myself to more food than I could stomach. It’s actually been getting embarrassing at work. We’ve had christmass lunch for the whole week and people have been insisting I eat. When I mention I brought lunch with me from home and I don’t wanna throw it away they just scoff… then they insist some more. Then there’s gingerbread, cakes, tangerines, whatever… ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/32 "2018-12-21T21:47:31Z")
No. I will take a bite to be polite but the whole atmosphere of invasive noise and chaotic casualness of most of the “free food” opportunities describes would take away my appetite even if I was actually hungry. I need a quiet me-controlled space to eat anything. And I am a picky eater anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/33 "2018-12-21T21:55:50Z")
No, I do not. I’m a picky eater (and I don’t pick the healthy stuff, unfortunately), and I usually decline. Sometimes I take something to be polite. But usually, the food at potlucks at work or the sweets someone brought from home aren’t really to my taste. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/34 "2018-12-21T22:03:07Z")
No. There’ll be food later, and it will be better. The school Christmas party was yesterday, and I ate four strawberries and had a glass of bubbles out of politeness, rather than just gorge on fatty, sugary crap just because it was available. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/35 "2018-12-22T00:29:58Z")
I get annoyed at the people who make two plates immediately, (one for now, one to take home), before they’re sure they’ll even be enough for one go round. I knew a guy who was a struggling student that would take other’s food from the fridge and freezer and just laugh when confronted. Other than that, I really liked the guy and sometimes would buy extra food for him when I went out for lunch. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/36 "2018-12-22T12:40:45Z")
“Gorge” no, but I do take advantage of free food. If someone brings in cookies I would definitely have one and if there are still some left after two hours I’d probably take a second. But would stop there. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/37 "2018-12-22T13:47:39Z")
I’m usually pretty disciplined but I remember one time when I had three holiday parties on the same night. I was pretty stuffed when I got to the last one and I thought I could just nibble a little bit. But party three turned out to be a twelve course sit down Chinese dinner. I totally overdid it that night. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/38 "2018-12-22T18:15:41Z")
I still do and I should know better. This came when I was in college and I had a job in a restaurant, they gave us one meal a day. So I made sure I ate as much possible at that meal. Even as a kid, I never ate any breakfast, usually just toast and juice or coffee. So it has become a habit, a bad one of mine. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/39 "2018-12-22T19:40:41Z")
I’ll preface by saying that I only eat once a day, typically at around 6 a.m. This means that typically I don’t eat free food, but on rare occasions to avoid hassles explaining myself, I’ll skip breakfast and wait until whatever food event comes around to eat - which means by then I haven’t eaten in a day and a half _and_ I’m looking to consume around 2000 calories. Depending on what’s available and who’s around (family seems to feel 3500 calories is idle snacking), that can seem like gorging. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430/40 "2018-12-23T01:39:29Z")
Depends on me and my mood. Put unlimited/free shrimp or really good (to me) brisket in front of me and all bets are off. Make it something like candy, cookies or cake and you are really really saife. Its got to be something I really enjoy and don’t treat myself to very often to be a temptation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-gorge-on-free-food/826430.md?page=3)