Significance Of The Last Piece

Filipinos are generally weird.

By weird I don't mean repulsive like some other nationalities *cough*goddamnthatcurryisgettingthroughyourskin*cough*.

And by weird I don't mean excessively oh-my-god-we-should-dress-up-ass-bacteria weird. That's for the Japanese and the Japanese alone.

But we're weird. A foreigner would master the term "What the fuck." by the time he gets used to our living customs. We're not outrightly weird but it's the subtleties of the Filipino behaviour that will drive a foreigner crazy. (and yes, pointing at things using your lips and expressing seven different interjections using your eyebrows aren't practiced as much elsewhere)

Take for example a simple case of dining out with other Filipinos. Food is usually shared in large serving containers in a typical table scene. Correct me if I am wrong with my assumption here. We Filipinos, once naturalized with our companions, can turn into "patay gutoms" (life-and-death hungry bastards in local parlance) upon availing of that food.

It's like watching sharks feasting on raw cow meat. Don't get me wrong. This liveliness gives Filipino meals a spirit that you cant easily find elsewhere. By tradition, being energetic in eating as much as you can stuff in your stomach is polite.

But then again, when it comes right down to the last piece, nobody touches it. For every dish served, there's always one piece that gets left over. Whether it's a stick of french fries, a spoonful of rice, a piece of hotdog, a slice of cake - something always has to get left over.

You can split 8 pieces of chicken to 8 people and still find you have one left, defying any reason you can think of.

Forcing people to eat the last piece isn't any more an offer than it is an executive order. People come up with so many excuses before eating it. A foreigner joining such meal would think the last piece is poisoned.

Why? There's so many reasons why that happens, you just accept it that the last piece is high treason on a plate. One of the biggest reasons aside from last-touch-washes-the-plate is that eating the last piece means you're arrogant enough to deserve it. I cant help but think we subconsciously leave that piece behind just to see who the resident asshole of the dining table is.

If you don't believe me, try picking up the last piece and watch the cold-blooded-killer stares. If you're sensitive enough, that last piece will taste like poison.

But then again, leaving something behind upsets all the cosmic forces and will give you bad luck so someone has to do it. Someone has to clear the table.

Someone has to eat the last piece.

And for that, he becomes both the archvillain of the century and the hero who saves the world.
All in one bite. And it happens EVERY FREAKING MEAL.

Wait, did I say weird? I meant insane. My bad.