So, you love the art of sharing food and you always share your plate with others. You share maybe with your parents, relatives, friends, coworkers, and many others. While the art of sharing food is an interesting one, people sometimes violet some code of conduct during sharing food with others. Though the art of sharing is always wonderful and it connects you with others and it creates a sense of care, still, there are many things which should be taken care of while sharing food with each other. There is no harm in sharing your tiffin or plates with your fellows. I have done it several times and we all do it on several occasions. There are no rules of sharing food and there is no legal provision of practicing this art, but we have a code of conduct in every walk of our life. Be it any things, we have to follow some ethics. So are there while we share the food with others. Sharing food is a work of goodness. We share food with our known, and we even sometimes share food with strangers. There is a code of conduct in the act of sharing food. These codes of conduct in the art of sharing food are not mentioned properly anywhere, but these depend on one’s understanding. We all follow some ethics based on our general understanding and over the time of practicing them, they become a part of our routine life. The morality and ethos which we follow in every part of our schedule have their own way of practicing and we are connected to them sentimentally. When I was in Nepal with my friends we stayed in a guest house, I was served food different from others, as I am veg and they all were nonveg. So, cooking food especially different for me was also a problem for them.
What is the Code of Conduct in the Art of Sharing?
A code of conduct is anything which defines the morals and the behavior of working anything of our normal routine life. As per the definition of Wikipedia,
“A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the social norms and rules and responsibilities of, or proper practices for, an individual, party, or organization. Related concepts include ethics, honor, morals, codes, and religious laws.”
Now as per the definition of code of conduct, we can know what exactly are the codes of conduct which govern the art of sharing food. There are few things which should be followed, approached, kept in mind, considered as well as to be taken care of while performing this act of sharing food. Code of conduct is found everywhere so we are much familiar with it though we are not intuitive with the code of conduct in the art of sharing as we are not taught about it or it might not be mentioned in any book. Well, the code of conduct in art of sharing food is something that we experience while we share the food with each other. What we like and what we don’t like, can also be followed by some other person. Contrary to it, what we like and what we don’t like can be just the opposite of it for some other person. For example, I like veg food, it is also liked by others. I don’t eat non – veg food. Now, non – veg food is also eaten by several people and is also not eaten at the same time. So there are certain codes of conduct that should be followed while we share our food with each other so that it doesn’t violet any ethical, honor, the moral, or religious norm of the person whom with you are sharing your food.
- Share while You Care: Caring and sharing are two phases of the same coin. So both these things are dependent on each. So if there is sharing, there is caring as well. So while we share your food with others, we care for them as well. So, there should be a good balance of share and care from the heart. Food shared with a good heart is more delicious.
- Care the Ethics and Morals: While we share the food, there are several ethics and morals which we have to follow. We should take care if sharing violets any ethics of the person. For example, there is always great debate over veg and non-veg food. Few people don’t touch non-vegetarian food and if you are not aware of it and try to share it with them, it may create problems. Routine sharing is no problem but when it comes to sharing food with someone for the first time, we should know about his/her preferences.
- Maintain the Protocols: We should consider the religious, ethical, and moral protocols while sharing the food with others. What they like and what they don’t like, what do they prefer, etc? Most of the time, sharing food with common friends is not a big deal as we get familiar with their routine. But we should take care of it when there is a new member of the team.
- Clean and Pure: Though we are well aware of cleanliness still we have to avoid anything which can make others feel awkward. This can be due to body odor or due to the place of sitting. So before sharing and exchanging the plates, we should have a look around and should avoid any such elements.
- Before and after Food: Before sitting on the dining table, the first food should be decided what to eat. I have seen so many times, we sit, and then for long we discuss what to eat. This also disturbs the staff of a restaurant or café. So, better to fix things first. And then after food, decide who will pay? Either pool in or individually or how? At the cash counter, many people just keep on saying no I will pay, no don’t worry, I will pay and it creates a bad scene.
- Table Choices: So the food menu is fixed. Now, what else? How to sit, how to eat, how to behave on the table? There may be people from several ethnic backgrounds with different cultures with different ways of eating. This all should be taken care of properly so that it will not violet any code of conduct.
The above mentioned were a few code of conduct which we should practice and follow in our routine life. Although, you may find several other codes of conduct as well, what I have given here are just basics and are based on my observation while sharing food with others. So, to make the sharing a healthy and good one, we all should be aware of dos and don’ts of sharing food with others. This will turn the food sharing experience a wonderful one.
