Eat Drink Man Woman

A few years ago, a mixed group of us went on holiday to Portugal. We all clubbed in and rented a lovely hilltop villa not far from Albufeira.

On the first day, we all went to the supermarket together and immediately split up into boy and girl factions. As a group, the women bought fresh fruit, vegetables, museli, bottles of wine, etc. whereas the boys bought bacon, egg, sausages, BBQ meat, crisps, chocolate and beer.

When the week was over, everything the lads bought had been consumed many times over (we had to go back and re-supply) and we ended up throwing away rotting fruit, spoiled vegetables and almost full packets of museli. To be fair, the girls did polish off a lot of wine and spirits inbetween eating all of our food.

So it got me thinking, can food and drink be divided up along gender lines? Are there men on this forum who like cottage cheese, Ryvita crackers and celery? Are there women on this forum who eat pork scratchings, drink pints of strong lager and then have a vindaloo? Where do you stand on passion fruit and Yakult?

The only reason I bring this up, is that Pizza Hut are showing an advert where loads of office girls pop into a restaurant to have a salad at lunchtime. Fair enough, but they've PC-ed it up a bit by showing a black guy sat at the table with them.

I'm thinking 'he ain't ordering no salad, he's going deep dish' and of course, in my imagination, the girls are chatting away merrily and eating salads until that big ol' pizza arrives.

Now I feel sorry for the guy, as all the girls will start talking about fat, cholesterol and heart disease while he's trying to eat his lunch. What makes it worse is that once the chicks see that hot delicious pizza, they'd like nothing more then to chuck their salads in the bin and dig in.

But they won't as they've created a self imposed, circle of social pressure and masochistic guilt to insure that their dining experience is as miserable as possible.

Or perhaps I'm reading too much into this, and I am indeed, totally insane.

Sounds about right to me.

I like celery

Quote: shaggy292 @ April 19 2009, 2:32 PM BST

I like celery

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As a snack or as a meal? If I gave you the choice between a hamburger and a stick of celery, would you choose celery instead?

Of course, if you're a man and a vegetarian, then you are barred from this discussion, as you're pretty much a chick when it comes to food.

Oh, definitely as a snack. If it was there in the salad bowl at a buffet I'd take three or four sticks.

Chicks don't have celery as a meal do they?

I don't eat junk food as a main meal if there's a healthier alternative. Fresh fruit and vegetables all the way. Museli, celery, Ryvita and passion-fruit, lovely (though not all in the same bowl). I used to drink Yakult almost every day when I lived in Singapore and Thailand. Why would I want to eat crisps, fast-food burgers or greasy bacon and eggs, when instead I can buy wholemeal buns/rolls, fill them with tasty avocado, tomato, beetroot, lettuce, carrot, boiled egg, onion, cheese, chicken (or salmon) and feel the much healthier for it? And in the evenings, a scotch fillet steak done to medium rare on the BBQ, served with boiled potatoes, steamed broccoli (or zucchini, beans, silverbeet, spinach or peas) and carrots. Followed by dessert, often consisting of stewed rhubarb or nectarines (or apples, melons, pears, berries, whatever's in season) on ice cream with cream. Yum.

That said, during my years in the UK, I frequently dined at the Little Chef and the Happy Eater, and ate lunches at pubs and bought dinners from fish and chip shops, but in those days I was a chain-smoking alcoholic so I always remained thin as a rake.

Quote: Kenneth @ April 19 2009, 3:04 PM BST

I don't eat junk food as a main meal if there's a healthier alternative. Fresh fruit and vegetables all the way. Museli, celery, Ryvita and passion-fruit, lovely (though not all in the same bowl). I used to drink Yakult almost every day when I lived in Singapore and Thailand. Why would I want to eat crisps, fast-food burgers or greasy bacon and eggs, when instead I can buy wholemeal buns/rolls, fill them with tasty avocado, tomato, beetroot, lettuce, carrot, boiled egg, onion, cheese, chicken (or salmon) and feel the much healthier for it? And in the evenings, a scotch fillet steak done to medium rare on the BBQ, served with boiled potatoes, steamed broccoli (or zucchini, beans, silverbeet, spinach or peas) and carrots. Followed by dessert, often consisting of stewed rhubarb or nectarines (or apples, melons, pears, berries, whatever's in season) on ice cream with cream. Yum.

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Go through much bog roll Kenneth?

No, not really.

Quote: Kenneth @ April 19 2009, 3:04 PM BST

That said, during my years in the UK, I frequently dined at the Little Chef and the Happy Eater, and ate lunches at pubs and bought dinners from fish and chip shops, but in those days I was a chain-smoking alcoholic so I always remained thin as a rake.

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The good old days?

Quote: shaggy292 @ April 19 2009, 2:44 PM BST

Chicks don't have celery as a meal do they?

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Some do...and then wake up at midnight and eat an entire box of Cadbury's Roses. I can attest to this first hand.

Restaurant salads are actually yummy, because you can have loads of dressings and stuff.
By the end of it they're never actually healthy anyway. Not when I'm involved.

Quote: zooo @ April 19 2009, 3:29 PM BST

Restaurant salads are actually yummy, because you can have loads of dressings and stuff.
By the end of it they're never actually healthy anyway. Not when I'm involved.

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There was a piece on the news a few months back where they were talking to office workers who skipped breakfast and instead drank a 500ml fancy coffee instead.

They were quite shocked when the reporter told them that their coffee had more fat and sugar then a McDonalds cheeseburger.

Haha.
I used to have an Egg McMuffin for breakfast when I was at college. Yumm. And that's when I was mega skinny.
Maybe there's something in this...!

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ April 19 2009, 3:18 PM BST

The good old days?

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And how! I've an uneasy feeling that my current healthy lifestyle of recent years is just an effort to rejuvenate and detox my body before subjecting it to a few more years of horrendous abuse with booze and cigarettes. Though it seems so few people smoke any more, at least in the West.

Anyone here smoke (cigarettes)? Do more women smoke than men in the UK?

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ April 19 2009, 2:28 PM BST

What makes it worse is that once the chicks see that hot delicious pizza, they'd like nothing more then to chuck their salads in the bin and dig in.

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My girlfriend is always doing this to me. Order's herself a nice salad whilst I grab myself a solid steak and chips with all the trimmings. Before you know it she's tucking in to my onion rings or something else delicious on my plate.

Now I'm all for trading food at the dinner table as long as it's equal. A couple pieces of cucumber and tomatoes doesn't equate to onion rings and a handful of chips, maybe even a bit of the steak if she's feeling lucky.

Quote: Darren Pomroy @ April 20 2009, 4:25 PM BST

My girlfriend is always doing this to me. Order's herself a nice salad whilst I grab myself a solid steak and chips with all the trimmings. Before you know it she's tucking in to my onion rings or something else delicious on my plate.

Now I'm all for trading food at the dinner table as long as it's equal. A couple pieces of cucumber and tomatoes doesn't equate to onion rings and a handful of chips, maybe even a bit of the steak if she's feeling lucky.

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I remember an episode of Friends which tackled this very subject with Joey not wanting to share his food.