Man Called Selfish And Heartless For Not Sharing Half Of His Food With A Pregnant Woman

Group outings can be tricky, especially the ones that revolve around food—all people have their own preferences and dietary needs.

Reddit user YuriPumpkinSpice recently shared a challenging experience where his gluten allergy collided with a woman’s pregnancy cravings during breakfast with friends.

Tensions rose after the lady, Via, insisted on him sharing his meal with her, leading to a confrontation that made everyone a bit uncomfortable.

The story highlights the importance of setting and enforcing personal boundaries in social settings and serves as a reminder that you can’t always get what you want.

This person has just figured out that they have celiac disease and can’t eat gluten

Man Called Selfish And Heartless For Not Sharing Half Of His Food With A Pregnant Woman

Image credits: cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo)

Which immediately became a problem

Man Called Selfish And Heartless For Not Sharing Half Of His Food With A Pregnant Woman

Image credits: Mikhail Nilov / pexels (not the actual photo)

Man Called Selfish And Heartless For Not Sharing Half Of His Food With A Pregnant Woman

Image credits: Pixabay / pexels (not the actual photo)

Man Called Selfish And Heartless For Not Sharing Half Of His Food With A Pregnant Woman

Image credits: YuriPumpkinSpice

Sharing food is an intimate gesture, and there are times when we don’t want to do it

Man Called Selfish And Heartless For Not Sharing Half Of His Food With A Pregnant Woman

Image credits: fauxels / pexels (not the actual photo)

You don’t need an allergy to have strong feelings against the idea of passing around your plate, and looking at how animals handle food might give us a better understanding of why that is.

According to Jennifer Verdolin, Ph.D., an animal behavior researcher specializing in social and mating behavior, sharing food is indicative of a close relationship, because food is generally a desirable resource. “The better the resource, the less likely you are to want to share it,” she says. “Especially if it is hard to come by.” And if the gluten-free option at the restaurant was, indeed, more expensive, you could very well make the case that it was more valuable than the other dishes.

Now, if you don’t want others to have a piece of your meal and they take it anyway, that is considered a sign of dominance, Dr. Verdolin explains. “And that is irksome,” she says.

In some cases, you may not care about it at all, either because the food isn’t that good, or because you’re also getting some food from the person, Dr. Verdolin adds. “Notice, though, that this usually only feels okay if both foods are desirable to both parties,” she says.

In other words, if your dinner mates are offering you something that you don’t like, then it’s worthless to share. Dr. Verdolin says believes this explains why ordering small plates for multiple people to share requires so much negotiation, and it might be the reason behind this conflict as well.

Most of the people who became familiar with the conflict said that the author of the post did nothing wrong

Man Called Selfish And Heartless For Not Sharing Half Of His Food With A Pregnant Woman

But some weren’t so supportive

Man Called Selfish And Heartless For Not Sharing Half Of His Food With A Pregnant Woman

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Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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As a Visual Editor at Bored Panda, I indulge in the joy of curating delightful content, from adorable pet photos to hilarious memes, all while nurturing my wanderlust and continuously seeking new adventures and interests—sometimes thrilling, sometimes daunting, but always exciting!

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What do you think ?

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KatSaidWhat 4 months ago

there's always a YTA being TA - pregnancy was a choice, just like realising you are hungry and can order your own food is. Allergies are not - nobody wants a fricking allergy. And then it went up to half his plate, nah felicia. GTFO and stop using pregnancy as a weapon to be an a*****e.

61points

Rebel Peewee 3 months ago

Right? I criiinnnggged at her claiming her pregnancy cravings were kicking in.

18points

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Hamza Malik 3 months ago

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HTakeover 4 months ago

As they figured out toward the end, it wasn't about sharing food / pickiness per se. It was about getting free food and exerting control.

33points

FreeTheUnicorn 4 months ago

My friend group often shares food, but there are two people who don't share, not a dietary thing, they dont like it. Just like one person has never been a handshaker (they were priced right with Covid, werent they). So you don't share with the non shares any more than you require a friend who doesn't like handshakes to shake hands. Part of being friends is respecting limits when they aren't hurting anyone. There's nothing about pregnancy that means you don't understand no, you aren't the baby, you're the mother. This woman alienated her friends by refusing to accept a simple no.

30points

Zoe Vokes 3 months ago

I’m not a sharer. I’d give a bite if somebody asked because they wanted to try the sauce but secretly I don’t want to. It’s because growing up I only ate chicken and fish (still do). If we went out as a family and they were ordering lamb, beef or pork dishes then I would go hungry if I shared my food. Plus I’m faddy. There’s lots of vegetables I don’t like so I’m happy with the one specific dish I love from the menu.

4points

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