Once, while at a dinner with some coworkers and our boss, we were passing some noodle dish around the table. There was exactly one serving left, but nobody would take it all. So my coworkers and I started to take exactly half of what was left when we got the dish. It got very amusing when we had only one noodle left, and we were cutting it into halves and fourths and eighths with the serving spoon. Needless to say, the serving staff was staring by that point.

Reply

Unfortunately, I've been subject more often to inquiring about a certain food only to find out it had been finished hours or a day before.

Reply

the first thing is...golden butterfly by corelle. we had those SAME PLATES for thrity years in my parents' house!!!! LOLLLLLL!

okay, the second thing is...it's not just a courtesy thing with foods that aren't yours. it's just a courtesy thing in general that i've noticed. people just don't want to be the big greedy pig that polishes it off. Have you ever seen girls share a dessert in a restaurant? What about the 1/2 inch of milk in the carton in the fridge?

see,that even brings up the whole issue of not wanting the responsibility of cleaning it up. if you finish that last bite, you probably have to wash teh dish. LOL!

Reply

Too funny, I have the exact same plate in my cupboard as well.

Reply

I have noticed over the years that in families with an agricultural tradition, it is often considered good manners to finish the last piece, so that a new dish may be brought out. There's plenty of food, so finish that last piece of Grandma's cake so we have a place for Aunt Ellie's pie. There may not be much else, your socks may have holes and your pants may be patched, but food, we got tons of.

It's even impolite not to finish it. You don't like Grandma's cake? Oh, that's the extra cake she brought.

City and townsfolk didn't have an oversupply of food so to eat the last piece implied that you were poor or greedy.

My wife's family usually ends up feeding me the last piece of most things just so my mother in law can wash the dish. Fortunately, she's an excellent cook.

I, on the other hand, am mildly miffed when I have to bring any food home from a get together. What, you didn't like my tofu pie?

Reply

Count me in on the Corelle Golden Butterfly club. I just used mine for dinner tonight.

"see,that even brings up the whole issue of not wanting the responsibility of cleaning it up. if you finish that last bite, you probably have to wash teh dish. LOL!"

This is what I always thought the explanation was!

Reply

Not to be confused with The Last Bite Axiom (and corollaries): http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2004/01/the_last_bite_axiom_and_corollaries.php

Reply

We have that in our social circle. It's called the Politeness Field. A Politeness Field autmatically springs up around the last portion of anything, especially a shared plate of appetizers in a restaurant.

Reply

Funny :)

Reply

A japanese friend of mine told me that there's an actual term for this phenomenon... can't remember it in Japanese, but it translated to 'lump of restraint'. I thought that was a perfect way to describe it.

Reply

I'm not an experienced food porn photographer, but I took a pic of a grilled cheese sandwich on my own golden butterfly plate a few months ago.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/calel/37450938/

Reply

I think those plates were issued to every suburban home purchased in the mid 1970s....

Reply

They probally were because we had those plates too. In regards to eating the last bite, my husband and I will pass last bites of food back and forth until there are only crumbs left. I think it DEFINATLY has to do with not wanting to wash dishes... at least in my case.

Reply

Ha! Corelle plates! Love them. But my vintage melamine Texasware plates get used the most.

I agree w/Bruce about the country/city opinion. My husband grew up in Monterey, CA and will go out of his way to leave the last piece. Even if that "last piece" is a lone french fry or 1/4th of a TSP of mayonnaise in the fridge.

I, however, grew up in an Ohio farming family and it was certainly considered rude to not take the last piece. If you tried to take just a sliver of the last piece at grandma's house, an aunt or someone would surely comment, "Oh. You didn't like it?" And the cook's feelings would certainly be hurt.

Reply

Basicly the last bite IS being polite. I was just recently out with some friends with some others I had just met, we ordered some food and there was a very last bite. The server came to clear everything and the GENTLEMAN was clearly still hungry and wanted the last bite. Last bite has nothing to do with cleaning (in my opinion) it is being polite.

Reply

first of all, i have to say, gotta love the corelle plates. i have a different design than this but i love them nonetheless, they take any and all forms of abuse and torture that you subject them to.

secondly, in my family the last bite was always the best bite. usually it went to the kid in the family, since the last bite was considered to contain all the "strength" of the dish. as we got older it became more of an issue of " who would like the last bite?". everyone would look at each other... and then two people would reach for it at the same time. basically that resulted in two forks dueling it out in the communal dish, in a tangle for the last noodle or whatever it was, and a lot of laughs from the rest of the family. ah the ood ole times.

Reply

When I was a kid you didn't eat the crumbs from a box of, say, cookies, because then no one could say "you ate all the cookies...". It was true in my husband's family too. That is why he would never finish the last 1/4" of milk in the box or take the last cookie. Why I always have to leave one bite of food on my own plate - I don't know, I just do.

Reply