The Social Etiquette of Heartbreak

After reading the article, "The boy who becomes a Muni bird," I found myself reflecting on my own communal and emotional relationship with food. I have never thought much about the social taboos of food etiquette, and really, how standardized can food etiquette be in such a culturally heterogeneous society? But still, heterogeneity aside, I think we have come to some means of a social-wide taboo agreement.

For example, there are few times when binge eating a pint of ice cream is socially acceptable, and it is somewhat sexist. A male can never really eat the pint without some feminine stigma attached, and for women, the acceptance depends on a recent break-up or something of the sort. But, publicly gulping a pint of Ben and Jerry's may lead to "shame face," without proper excuse.

Personally, I have fallen victim to the pint. My junior year of high school a boy broke my heart. After he brutally dumped me over the phone at 1:oo AM, I ran to the kitchen sobbing, found the ice cream and binged my sorrows away. My world was over, and I never thought I'd be the same. After I ate that ice cream, I had no appetite for several days, and my only comfort was Kelly Clarkson.

While I have since gotten over him (if I hadn't, it would be pathetic, right?) my taste memory still jogs back to the heart-wrenching night, when my heart broke for the first time. Now, my social etiquette filter lowers for those lonely, inconsolable girls I see every now and again. Food unites us all, I guess.