# Where were "people starving" when you were a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432 "2019-02-13T00:47:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/22 "2019-02-13T10:33:59Z")
Ethiopia. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/23 "2019-02-13T10:44:46Z")
Grew up in the sixties. Starving children in [country] was rarely used. My dad enforced a “Your mom went to the trouble to cook it, you’re gonna show appreciation by eating it” rule. Our table custom was to put all the food in serving dishes, and everyone spoon out their own amount. It was law\* that we were to select some of every dish, and if the amount was disrespectfully small, he would dish out substantially more. \*Everyone was allowed to select one particular food they could skip when it appeared, but only one. Mine was butterbeans. I still hate those. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/24 "2019-02-13T11:08:22Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I could never figure out how cleaning my plate reduced starvation in Europe. It didn’t. What it was supposed to do was to make you realize how lucky, how very lucky you were, to live in a land where you wanted for nothing. Nobody was fed in Europe because you didn’t clean your plate. You were supposed to feel lucky because you got healthy and nutritious Brussels sprouts, carrots, and broccoli, while European kids got shoe leather. Except they didn’t get shoe leather, and you got yucky-tasting Brussels sprouts, carrots, and broccoli. Or stewed tomatoes. I don’t know how many times my Mom told my sister and I that we were “lucky, lucky children,” because we didn’t know starvation like they had in Biafra. So we gagged down the awful vegetables, because we were lucky, lucky children who weren’t unlucky, like Biafran children. My Mom was such a lousy cook that I bet that even Biafran children would refuse Brussels sprouts the way my Mom cooked them. And what the hell are “stewed tomatoes” anyway? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/25 "2019-02-13T12:12:51Z")
My parents never used this tactic. We were expected to finish our dinner, and there was no discussion. We weren’t forced to eat things we didn’t like (which is great, because asparagus stunk to high heaven!!!) but we had to finish at least a serving of meat and veg and drink a glass of milk. Of course, if you didn’t finish your meal, you didn’t get dessert… ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/26 "2019-02-13T12:43:13Z")
"Eat your dinner. You know there are starving kids in Europe? “I wish I was starving in Europe. At least they know how to cook there.” I never got that from my folks, but my mom was from Germany and knew how to cook. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/27 "2019-02-13T12:45:15Z")
1970s — China, but usually phrased as “As your grandpa would tell us when we were kids…” (so, circa 1950). By the 1980s, when I was a teen, Ethiopia was more common. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/28 "2019-02-13T12:47:22Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Same here — Biafra. This was in 1969, when I lived in Upstate New York. I hadn’t even heard of Biafra. > > [Biafra - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biafra) I once dated a girl named for that episode. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/29 "2019-02-13T12:57:17Z")
My parents wouldn’t use this tactic, and I was conditioned to eat everything and anything. Luckily, I think I’m naturally not a picky eater. But the country would have been Ethiopia had they been so inclined. It was the 80s, and that was constantly in the news and the source of very many jokes and riddles in poor taste. (And, also, being a kid of the 80s and a Weird Al listener at the time, Japan.) ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/30 "2019-02-13T12:58:19Z")
Awww… > [@Bone](#): > > Moderating > Moved from Thread Games to IMHO. > > [/moderating] Think of all those people in Thread Games. I think mine was Africa. Maybe China. I wasn’t really listening. I did have to finish everything. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/31 "2019-02-13T13:06:37Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > As an added bonus, being RCC, we were admonished to “offer it up for the poor souls in Purgatory” when faced with something unpleasant. Never could figure out how raking a pile of soggy leaves would get someone out of hock I read this as “get someone out of _heck_” which sort of works too. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/32 "2019-02-13T13:38:35Z")
Yeah, Biafra. Never knew exactly where that was! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/33 "2019-02-13T14:07:11Z")
Allan Sherman on children starving in Europe [Hail To Thee, Fat Person by Allan Sherman - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeoa0-U8-Yw) “Ladies and gentlemen, I got fat as a public service when I was a child, My mother said to me, “Clean the plate, because children are starving in Europe” And I might point out that that was years before the Marshall Plan was ever heard of” ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/34 "2019-02-13T15:37:08Z")
Another “vote” for Biafra. Surprised to see it so wide-spread. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/35 "2019-02-13T15:54:25Z")
Africa for me. The usual speech from my dad was “There are people starving in Africa who could make a whole meal out of what you’re leaving on your plate.” My inclination was to ask if there was some way we could send my food to them, but I knew better than to actually say it. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/36 "2019-02-13T15:54:55Z")
Late 60s -70s: China or we’d hear my mom tell the story of when my grandpa (her dad) was stationed in France during WWII. The hungry kids would stand around as the GI’s ate and wait for something to be offered up. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/37 "2019-02-13T16:21:06Z")
My dad came to within days of starving to death in WWII Holland. There was no question whatsoever in our house: you cleaned your plate and food was never discarded. We were upper middle class but many of my take-to-school lunches featured stale bread. Other kids with parents with other histories were coerced with “little children in Africa” NOS. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/38 "2019-02-13T17:17:30Z")
Biafra. Late 1960s. My mother was ( at the time ) a horrible cook, and bad food looks, smells, and tastes even worse when you’re 6 or 7 years old. When strong-arming me to eat her revolting food didn’t work, she always trotted out the “If a boy over there saw this food, he’d be SO happy!”. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/39 "2019-02-13T17:41:41Z")
My parents never used this tactic, but it would have been Ethiopia or Africa in general based on the news of 70’s/80’s when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/40 "2019-02-13T18:14:40Z")
Asia. I remember my father punctuated the point one time by grabbing a magazine and showing me an ad for UNICEF or CARE or some organization like those, with a picture of an Asian baby. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432/41 "2019-02-13T18:55:17Z")
My mother just said “Eat it or wear it.” No other coercion was needed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-people-starving-when-you-were-a-kid/829432.md?page=3)