Commandments From The Great Depression

“If you’re offered food, and you decide to accept it and take a bite, you’d better finish eating the entire offering.” Now, I’m not sure if that preceding line was a commandment in other homes, but it sure was in mine as I was growing up.

My mom would add, “It’s rude to taste something that a woman bakes and then not finish eating it.” As I grew older, I deduced that my parents were not only concerned about hurting others’ feelings, but their thoughts on the consumption of food were also a result of them growing up during the Great Depression when families couldn’t afford to waste anything.

Ho...