Why do some people clean their plates to the point of mopping up even the crumbs with a piece of bread?

Maybe they were taught not to waste food. I always have a little something left on my plate as well. If it’s a lot leftover, I’ll usually take it home. If it’s pizza I always leave the crust because I hate crust, unless it’s stuffed.

I’ll take your crust @AshlynM!

If I enjoy my meal at home or out I tend to eat every single bite and/or have seconds. Other than perhaps taking in unneeded calories, I see nothing wrong with that. In fact, I occasionally have a good home-cooked with friends and they always tell me how pleased and complimented they are that I eat so heartily at their homes.

Any more I can only eat about half of what I used to eat. But that’s OK, because I’m not as physically active as I used to be. I can never go back for seconds!

If I like the food I’m going to eat every bite. I only take portions I know my body can handle.

I don’t typically see people mopping up food with bread. To me, that looks sort of primitive. I have seen it done, but not in “polite company.” I will eat toast with the egg yolk from sunny side up eggs, but I use a fork and knife, not my fingers, to move the bread.

@jca you use a fork and knife with toast? yikes. I feel primitive. ;)

I agree that often parents have been guilty of insisting their children ‘clean their plates’. I think this is changing with our better understanding of eating habits and diet. Other than that, perhaps they’re really enjoying their food. As long as they didn’t have too much food on their plate, why should they leave some? I’m guessing you’re talking about mopping up with bread as an example? I think that’s also a cultural thing. In some cultures, I believe leaving behind the sauce or gravy would be an insult to the chef. Other than that, I think it’s just an appreciation of the great flavour of the sauce if someone does that. Can’t say I do, but it doesn’t bother me if others do.

@jonsblond: Not to eat it normally, but if I have the runny yolk from sunny side up eggs or eggs over easy, then yes. I won’t use the bread like a mop with my fingers, I’ll use it with the bread with the fork.

There are many cultures that use bread as an eating utensil.

It is very primitive and unattractive. They do it in the nicer cafes we have in town, too.

Saying that mopping up food with bread is primitive is something that I can’t even comprehend…

People do it with soup and things all the time, especially if it’s something they enjoy a lot. As a matter of fact, that’s the original, intended purpose of having bread with soup – so that you’re able to mop up all of the food.

I am one primitive person, then. I’ll also eat quite a few things with my fingers and I prefer it that way for quite a few foods.

It’s also considered bad manners in the UK and other countries to only use your fork to eat. Good manners dictate you use both your knife and your fork. There are cultural differences in relation to what is and what is not acceptable when it comes to table manners.

I don’t know how to explain. They eat with a desperate intensity. I mean, like they’re desperate to mop up every little bit of left over salad dressing or whatever. Their plates positively shine when they’re done.

I eat lots of food with my fingers. Fried chicken comes to mind. Hamburgers and burritos too. French fries. Egg rolls.

@Dutchess_III If you’re talking about the people who literally seem frantic when they eat, then yes, I agree that it’s off-putting. My best friend of 20 years used to eat that way when we were children and into our teens – until all of her friends, at varying points, told her that they were embarrassed to eat with her in public. I felt the same way, but it was hard for me to talk to her about it, because I knew what mealtimes were like at her house. :-/ They were frantic, and rather than try to share seconds with each other, it was a race to keep as much food for themselves as possible. They were really poor, and I remember realizing, at ten, how lucky I was to never have to feel that way during my meals.

She felt really stupid after she realized so many people were embarrassed by her eating habits and she hadn’t even realized it was something that she did. She managed to change how she ate, for the most part, but sometimes it still comes through – though not nearly as bad. After growing up that way, I think it just kind of sticks with some people.

I have no issue with that.
However, I am deeply offended when people have one of their hands under the table.
Keep both hands on the table.

Yeah, you get the picture @DrasticDreamer. I wonder if that explains it? I used to work with two women who ate like that. One would chew with her mouth open, and talk with her mouth full, and they both had food spots all over their shirts. Don’t know how the one was raised, but the other was raised by a doctor so she wasn’t poor.

There are some foods that absolutely need bread, like au ju (sp). And nothing is better than my homemade bread dipped into my home made roast beef juice! It’s a terrible mess so I only do this at home, but oh so good. My son once said, “This is the stuff that cures what ails ya!”

Me like to draw a smiley face in the gravy when my tummy full up.
“Bye bye Mr. Gravyface” That what my mommy says when she take him away…she has dementia :D

@Dutchess_III: “It is very primitive and unattractive.”

I’ll assume you don’t go out for Ethiopian often?

What? No! Why?

I leave my plate pretty clean. It’s because I don’t want to waste food. It’s something that was stressed in my family as well. I remember all those dinners I have with my Italian family. Whenever we have pasta with salsa, there’d be bread on the table to wipe up the leftover salsa. When I was younger, my grandfather would always call me out if my plate wasn’t cleaned off.

Probably because they grew up in the Depression

@Pachy best expresses my position. I was raised to “clean my plate”, but now I only do it when the food is really delicious. My fiancé and I both enjoy food, and we eat slowly and enjoy every morsel because we choose good foods to eat. I don’t have a problem leaving something on my plate if the portions are determined by someone else and it’s too much, or if I don’t care for the food. We’ve had to shoo wait staff away because we’re still savoring the last bits and they try to remove the plates. We interact with many chefs and farmers on social media, and at the restaurants and markets, and they love the food as much as we do. We don’t care what the snobs sitting at the next table think.

I miss the days when I could eat so much that I would mop my plate with bread. I don’t eat sweets with savory, so mopping with bread is just a quick reminder of all the delicious food you just a consumed. I see nothing wrong with it and I’d be delighted if a guest of mine did it.

When I was a kid we did not eat family style. My mom dished up all the plates at the stove, put them at our assigned seats, and when your plate was clean you could leave the table. FOr years we were not even allowed to trim the fat from meat. If you did, you still had to eat it before you could leave the table. I come from frugal, Depression weary people.

If bread has any use at all, it is precisely to collect the amazing flavors that are left on the plate. We had Indian tonight, and my last few bites of food were of the naan I used to mop up the beautiful collection of flavorful sauces left on my plate.

@hominid Naan is infinitely more ‘mop-able’ than American white bread.

Bread has use as a container for food combinations. Sandwiches, tortillas, wraps. More I’m sure.

@ibstubro: soup.

I think the bread thing sometimes is cultural. It wouldn’t surprise me to see an Italian-American use their bread to get the last bits of sauce. Other people do it too of course. I don’t use my bread, because soggy bread to me is disgusting. It doesn’t disgust me when people do it though. Although, I would see it as odd in an expensive restaurant or dinner at a formal event.

I think I get turned off when it is a combination of things. If they eat fast, eat every morsel, and don’t socialize in the conversation once the food arrives, it can be off putting. Just one of those alone I probably would be unlikely to really notice.

Every morsel can be ok depending on what food. My husband and his family take great pride in cleaning chicken bones bare and even like the cartilage. It disgusts me. My husband eats ridiculously fast, which sometimes annoy me. Luckily, he knows how to hold a fork and knife, puts his napkin on his lap, sits up straight, is handsome, makes great conversation, is courteous, and it’s rare to be in a situation where you hold chicken in your hands in a formal situation.

I was raised to take what I could eat, and to guess on the conservative side, and then take seconds if I was hungry. I still often had something left on my plate. Either because it was too much food, I literally would leave two bites of food once I was full even if I lived it. Or, if I thought the food was yuck I left it behind. Like leaving behind chicken skin that wasn’t crispy, a sauce that I didn’t like, and extra fresh tomatoes, which I don’t eat.

Now, I am able to fit more in my stomach, unfortunately, and I am not gagging so readily from foods I don’t like, and I’m paying. I think most adults can eat past full and can eat things they don’t necessarily love. Since we have a concept of money, and how hard it is to make it, we don’t like food to go to waste that we paid for.

It really depends upon whether I’m eating alone or with others.

I just love foods with lots of sauce, juice or gravy and if there’s plenty to go around I’ll take extra sauce. Naturally, I’ll use some bread to mop up the remainder if I’m at a restaurant or eating in others’ homes. I see nothing wrong with that. Sometimes the sauce is the most delicious part.

To me, it seems utterly pointless to always leave something on the plate for the sake of propriety. If there’s something I don’t really care for, of course it gets left on the plate. But if it’s really delicious, why on earth would I want to leave some on the plate just to look good? It will just go into the garbage. What a waste.

So, to answer the question, I’ll mop up anything that’s delicious because it would be silly not to. But if not enjoyable it gets left.

If I’m eating by myself, I many times use a largish bowl rather than a dinner plate. And since there’s no one to be offended by it, of course I’ll lick up every last bit of delicious sauce. Why not? I’m all alone and it’s delicious and efficient as well; makes dishwashing a whole lot simpler. Since I’m alone and I enjoy it, I see absolutely no reason not too. It harms absolutely no one.

And, as Hearkat mentioned, when I’m at a restaurant, I linger and savor a delicious meal. Im constantly having to guard against an overzealous server trying to clear my plate before I’ve finished so I can certainly relate to that.

If it’s more than I can comfortably eat, I never hesitate to take the rest home even if it’s a pretty ssmall amount. I paid for it so why not? Obviously I don’t lick plates in a restaurant but that’s what bread is there for. I never eat bread when they first bring it prior to the meal. That makes little sense to me.

As a kid, I was raised to be a member of the clean plate club but I tossed that nonsense out the window when I reached adulthood. If I’ve had enough, I stop eating. I don’t keep stuffing my face no matter how delicious. That’s what doggie bags are for

As long as someone is mindful of good manners and restraint when eating with others I don’t think it should matter one bit what they do in the privacy of their own home.

Waste not want not I say. Why put it on your plate if you aren’t going to eat it?

Here’s what I wonder. If there is any connection between weight and how someone consistently cleans up every morsel and sauce on their plate.

I know now that I can finish my plate all the time (when I was younger I was terrified to eat past what felt full to me) I am fatter.

Depends on the size of the portion, the quality and taste of the food. If it’s something I love and the portion size is not too big, you can bet your life I’ll finish off every last little bit. But having said that, I’m not the kind of person who can keep eating beyond the feeling of fullness. Once I’m done I’m done, and if there’s more on the plate I just can’t eat it no matter how good it is.

Waste not, want not. And bread is for sopping up what remains. I grew up with 7 siblings and if you wanted dessert, you had to clean your plate. What you got might be all you could get so you had to eat all of it. And if it was really good grub, as it usually was, you’d want to mop your plate!

Zoup! @jca. Bowl and a small loaf as a meal. More than enough for me!

Pass on dessert, @kritiper. We were so tight it was likely a small bowl of canned fruit cocktail. Bleh.

@Buttonstc I don’t leave food on the plate “just for looks.” I leave food because I get full and if I take one more bite I’ll barf!

@flutherother If you order a meal at a restaurant, you can’t help what they bring you. It’s crazy. I once ordered a cheeseburger off the kid’s menu. It turned out to be a huge, ⅓rd pound cheeseburger with enough fries to fill up a dinner plate. Off the kids menu. No way could I eat all of that. I ate ¾ths of the cheeseburger and a couple of the fries and I was done.

@ibstubro I should have said WHEN/IF there was dessert! And we were like that canned fruit stuff as well.

My daughter’s eating fruit cocktail as we speak. Not because money is tight, because it’s not. Just because it’s in the house, she likes it and it’s not the worst choice.

I think I want a burrito.

I just ate some of my bacon chocolate streusel coffee cake. I even picked up some of the crumbs with my fingers. shh, don’t tell anyone

bacon chocolate…
I will report that to the ICC

I pick up food with my fingers often. Shhh, don’t tell anyone!

Dessert, when I was a kid, @jca, was often defined as a small bowl of canned fruit. Peaches, pears or cocktail. It was because my parents were tight. (As opposed to poor.)

I have a strict aversion to canned/tinned fruit and vegetables. Asparagus and tomatoes are okay, occasionally.

We didn’t have dessert after dinner when I was growing up. It was around the house sometimes, but we didn’t eat it at any particular time.

In my vast experience with dining, because I’m ancient and have seen it all, I have only noticed men “mopping up” every last bit on their plates if they have a strenuous, competitive job outdoors. Two carpenters come to mind. Very talented men, I admire their work but they are the only people I’ve seen mopping up everything with a piece of bread or a knife and fork.

@Aster Interesting. My husband and I were out all day kayaking and today he ate his dinner like he hadn’t had food in 5 days. More aggressively than usual, even though he always eats fast. I found it a little off putting.

Yes, when I see people who have obviously been working hard I totally understand them inhaling their food. I’ve seen my son do it. Hell, I’ve done it after a hard day of playing volley ball or riding horses. There is a valid reason for their “desperation.”

The two gals I’m talking to obviously never missed a meal, and, in fact, ate at their desks all day long. I subbed for one once, and I couldn’t even get her bottom drawer, which was a big drawer, open because it had $500 worth of junk food in it.

I thought this was concerning the mopping up of food; not eating fast. The two are looked at quite differently by some people.

The people I’m talking about inhale their food and they also mop up every last crumb of gravy or sauce or dressing. I mean, their plates shine like they just came out of the dishwasher.
They eat like a person who is literally starving to death would eat.

@Aster You’re right, they are different. I had mentioned above that I get turned off when people have a combination of things going on. Eat fast, clean plate to shiny like new, and don’t socialize. I also mentioned my husband cleaning chicken bones dry and even cruntching cartilage, and we happen to have chicken tonight. Ugh. Not all those things always go together.

@Dutchess_III That goes with my other question about wondering if people who tend to mop up their food tend to be fat? My husband isn’t fat, but he doesn’t always mop up food, it just depends on what he is eating. We almost never eat gravy. The only other food would be pasta with sauce, and he doesn’t like pasta very saucy, so even if he uses his bread it might be one pass over the plate if he had bread, which is the other thing, I almost never serve bread with a meal unless it is actually a sandwich. We eat plenty of bread, I’m not saying we are low carb. Usually “sauce” is basically gone just eating the rice or pasta or potatoes, no need for bread.

I just started a new Q asking about bread with meals.

Love how you had to nip the Fluther Monster in the bud by quickly adding “We eat plenty of bread, I’m not saying we are low carb.”!

Well, people with food issues tend to be fat. People who were forced by their parents to eat even after they’re full, or punished for not cleaning their plate, tend to have food issues.

Bread and butter is a ‘must have’ with soup and red spaghetti sauce. I must mop up. I was raised to mop spaghetti sauce, but we ate saltines with soup. I gradually went from soup and crackers, to soup with crackers in it, to just eating soup with bread.

OMG. Shrimp Scampi! More bread please!! I’ll not leave a drop of delicious garlicshrimpbutter. Last night I had buttered noodles with Parmesan and garlic. I used too much butter, so I had to eat a piece of bread to sop it up.

One does not waste delicious dairy butter.

Yes, one doe waste delicious dairy butter if they are no longer hungry. One does not eat stuff just to be eating it.

Sop up the butter? I’m annoyed the food is floating in it. Too much butter makes me think ick. Sometimes in restaurants I ask for a second plate and take the food off the original plate to the new one leaving butter sauce or creamy sauce behind in the old plate so the food is not so saucy.

In some cultures eating every morsel can be rude or imply you want seconds. In a America it is not usually perceived that way, but I just mention it in case anyone is interested. If you travel or do business with people from other places, or even if you married into a family that only recently came to America, it might be useful to look into the cultural differences.

To me, when someone cleans their plate, it implies that they’re continuing to eat after they’re already full. Unless, in some magical way, they got the exact portions the first time.

I don’t usually read into a clean plate. It can mean they were hungry, it can mean that’s what they do out of habit, it can mean they loved the dish, it can mean it wasn’t enough food, it can mean they are done eating (as opposed to eating all the food but some sauce is still there might mean they might take some more food before they are done). I don’t usually try to guess which.

If the person is very overweight it becomes part of a puzzle and is a turn off. Although, a plate piled high with food when someone is overweight is more of a turn off.

Saying I don’t usually read into it, doesn’t mean it might not bother me; it doesn’t mean I might not want to watch it.

This is the way I was taught and brought up – when I do use bread, I don’t use my fingers, I use a fork.

http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/eatingculture.html

I would sooner mop up the excess butter/sauce with bread and take part of the main entree home than waste the butter/sauce. Or share some of the entree to another diner. I refuse to waste great food.

After all, it’s the butter/sauce that makes the dish. Anyone can boil a shrimp. It’s the scampi part that makes shrimp scampi delicious. It’s the difference between eating and dining. Between filling your belly and nourishing your soul.

Last night they wanted me to go to a restaurant that makes the most delicious shrimp scampi. “No, no, no! If we go there, I’m going to have shrimp, and I’m nor nearly hungry enough for that! I need to prepare for that. Starve myself a bit so that I can devour every precious drop.”
If delicious food catches me unprepared, I may have to skip a meal or two after, but I’m not leaving some chef-inspired concoction on my plate because my hunger is temporarily sated. Yeah, like I’m going to leaf a delicious hand crafted Alfredo sauce on my plate so I have room for tomorrow’s PB&J. Pffft.

53 yo and just recently starting to put on a few extra pounds.

You don’t need magic to know what portion size your body can handle @Dutchess_III. Many people have diet restrictions for various reasons and they learn what they can and can’t have. If you do any kind of baking you can eyeball a cup vs half cup. It’s simple. You don’t need to trick you mind by using a smaller plate. It’s called being aware about what you put on your plate.

@jca I’ve never seen someone use their fork for bread and gravy, except when the bread is actually served on the plate as part if the entree like an open hot sandwich with gravy. Although, I sometimes eat a sandwich meant to be eaten with your hands with a girl and knife if it is too large or too messy, and then any sauce would be on the bread and fork, but it want something I considered to be an etiquette thing, I just thought if it as I don’t like a huge sandwich that falls apart.

@ibstubro Well, some people say the French came up with great sauces, because the quality of the food sucked. A lot of people look down on very saucy, heavy dishes.

I like shrimp scampi, but I also just like plain, boiled shrimp. My mother’s cooking was (is) usually not very saucy. It’s flavorful, but not loaded with sauces, unless it’s something like pot roast or stew.

Scampi isn’t loaded down with sauce usually, but it can be I guess. It just depends on the chef. He can serve it floating or not.

I do not eat meat, @JLeslie, so I rarely (if ever) encounter very saucy, heavy dishes.

This is typical:
The other day I had a simple dinner of a small bowl of buttered noodles with garlic and Parmesan cheese. I added too much butter and cheese, so when I finished the noodles, I took a piece of bread and mopped the bowl. It was delicious, and I still wasn’t ‘stuffed’.

Mopping your plate is not necessarily synonymous with gluttony. A lot of people just have a passion for food – many for cultural reasons. I have run the kitchen in a high-end restaurant and, believe me, there is a world of difference between gourmand and glutton, even if both leave a shiny plate.

I tend to light, easy sauces, @jca, like scampi. Sauteing in real butter and adding lemon juice at the very end like a simple piccata is also a favorite. Riley’s Seasoning or Cavenders Seasoning is often in the mix. Garlic, of course.

because shrimp are vegetables ~

@ibstubro, that would make a good question: If you know you’re going to be attending, say, a barbque later in the day, do you skip meals so you’ll be really hungry when the time comes? I do.

My husband’s company had their annual Christmas party, and it includes a meal. It wasn’t until 7 that evening, and I didn’t eat all day. I was ravenous, but I STILL couldn’t eat everything they served.

@jonsblond that aside, why use a big plate when a small plate will do? They take up less room in the dish washer.

I don’t recall ever “sopping up” anything with bread but maybe I’ve forgotten. I do know I forgot the word, “sop.” Thankfully.

why use a big plate when a small plate will do?
Because that’s all that’s available?

They take up less room in the dish washer.
What’s a dishwasher? I’ve been using my hands my entire life. ;)

@ibstubro My definition of meat includes anything that has a face, so seafood is in there and poultry. I’m going to assume you mean you don’t eat mammals?

Really that has nothing to do with it. Pasta Alfredo is an extremely caloric, cholesterol and fat filled dish. A little bit now and then is fine. Everyone can indulge. I eat things I shouldn’t all too often, so who am I to criticize? I don’t have any place to criticize.

I agree, using bread to mop up ones plate doesn’t necessarily signify gluttony. As I’ve said a few times, it’s when things are combined. Huge meal, eats fast, has to have every last morsel, and add in if they are overweight it is a turn off to me. Each thing alone might not cause me to blink my eyes. It is cultural too. As @gailcalled pointed out the French family saw it as par for the course to use bread that way. Many Italians do it.

For me, since I hate soggy bread, it’s a little extra negative to throw in.

I order French onion soup without the bread/crouton in the soup. I don’t dip my French dip. I order a roast beef open sandwich and gravy sans bread. I used to hate stuffing, but now acquired somewhat if a taste for it, but I like it rather dry.

I have an equal mix of both, @jonsblond, so I just use the smaller ones.
We found a dishwasher for $15 at a garage sale, so we bought it and Rick installed it. Yay! Up until then, about 8 years ago, I didn’t have a dishwasher either. We did them by hand. It was nice, actually. I’d have one of the kids wash and I’d rinse (or vice versa) and it was pleasant. We’d talk about dreams, about school, tell stories. I miss those days.
When my oldest daughter was about 8 she discovered that you could use a clear glass glass to peer down past the suds to locate the knives! That was cool.

I do rearrange my eating a little bit if I am going to an event with food, or a special restaurant, but mostly it has to do with trying to ensure I’ll be hungry. I want to avoid being ravenous and avoid bing full.

For instance if a dinner will be early, say 5:30, I might just eat a late breakfast. If the dinner is very late, say 8:00, I will purposely eat a lateish lunch. Maybe 1:00–1:30.

If I am going to an all you can eat place where I love the food or a party that will have multiple courses drawn out, I’ll shoot for very hungry, but still not ravenous.

Going to an average restaurant I don’t do anything special. If I order to much I’ll take home leftovers. Or, as I’ve said, my husband and I can split something.

I get really pissed when my husband doesn’t avoid being ravenous. Especially if we are going to a wedding or similar social event.

I don’t eat 3 meals a day. I mean, I don’t have a set breakfast /lunch /dinner schedule. I often won’t eat for the first time until 1:00, like today.

I hate that full feeling too. Well, that’s probably because non of us are lacking for food. I can imagine, like, Indians, after a successful buffalo hunt, maybe eating meat for the first time in a long time, enjoying feeling completely full.

I ate no meat, period, for years @JLeslie. Then I met my now S/O and after 3–5 years of eating out with friends being made a huge ordeal, I gave in and started eating seafood. Tastier and more readily available than insects, without much more individual self-awareness. Good vegetarian fair is about as available in the rural Midwest as Ethiopian peasant food.
If I wait until I’m ravenous, @JLeslie? 3–5 saltines and a glass of water, and I’m done. Irritable bowl, or so they say.

I can have a light, late lunch at 2:00, @Dutchess_III and have my eating complete for the day. I try not to eat unless I’m hungry, most days.

@ibstubro Vegetarian fair in restaurants is difficult in the majority of restaurants in the country, but I have to agree the middle of the country is the worst. Midwest and South for that matter. Forget it altogether if you want vegan. It’s frustrating. You’re best off in ethnic restaurants.

So, basically you are a pescatarian.

I am pescatarian, @JLeslie.

By choice but not by design. I’d avoid all animal products if possible. Not a realistic goal, here, without being an ass, IMO.

I don’t think I would alter my diet too much for fear of being an ass. I do alter mine when there is little other choice, so I understand that. I feel bad about it, bad about eating food I know will shorten my life and might not be especially yummy and worth it, but I do it if I am hungry and there simply is very little choice.

My sister is vegan and my aunt vegetarian, and my father close to vegetarian, but he cheats. I can’t imagine my aunt or sister ever cheating because of peer pressure.

Yet another question is spawned.