Why do people scramble for food at social events

What is it about free food that brings out the aggression in many Kenyans?

This question has been nagging me ever since I attended a certain wedding a couple of weekends ago.

The elegantly dressed invitees were cool, calm and orderly throughout the lengthy church ceremony, but when we got to the reception, this deceptive sereneness instantly disappeared the minute the MC announced that food had been served.

Women who had previously been at pains to take measured, regal steps in their high heels abandoned their lady-like personalities and unsteadily dashed to where the food was, determined to be first in line.

Men, too, were not left behind, and stopped short of elbowing others out of the way to reach to the food first.

It was quite a spectacle to behold, and I could not help feeling embarrassed on behalf of the shoving and jostling Kenyans.

NOTHING SPECIAL

Interesting, in almost all the weddings I have attended, there is always a scramble for food – there is one where I witnessed two women almost get into a fist fight, no, hair pulling fight, over a plate.

It turned out that the caterer had run out of plates, and the two women could not agree on who had touched the last one first. That is when I decided that I will never attend a wedding on an empty stomach because, truth be told, hunger has been known to drive human beings to do some pretty astonishing things.

But in such incidents though, I doubt hunger is solely to blame for this lack of decorum. I have a feeling there is something else, though I haven’t figured it out yet.

Surely the food we eat at such ceremonies is no different from that which many of us regularly have in our homes – I am pretty sure that an expensively dressed woman with picture-perfect make-up eats meat, rice and chapati once in a while, doesn’t she?

Another eyebrow raising habit we have is serving ourselves a small mountain of food that we cannot possibly finish, leading to unnecessary waste. Pray, why would you pile 10 pieces of chapati on an overflowing plate of rice and beef stew and a heap of salad?

But weddings are not the only social gatherings where we try to outrun one another in our scramble for food. Funerals are probably worse. For a moment, the mourning relatives and the person lying in the casket is forgotten as we focus on getting to the food – it does not matter whether it is githeri, or meat and rice.

ME FIRST

Come to think about it, we have this fixation with wanting to be first at everything – we mercilessly elbow each other out of the way to get into a matatu, even when it is obvious there will be seats for everyone. As if that is not enough, we are determined to be first to alight, even when we’re in no hurry.

This “Me first” habit also thrives on our roads. Some of us would rather die than give another driver way; we will even accelerate when we spot a vehicle trying to inch its way into the lane we are on. We even shoot daggers at heavily pregnant women who dare get ahead of us in supermarket or bank queues – oh, and how can I forget those Kenyans who spend a good chunk of their day devising ways of jumping queues? I could go on and on.

Here is tried and tested advice – if you plan to attend a wedding, either eat before you head there, or carry some snacks, especially if you have children. Trust me; the urge to sprint for the serving area will be less pressing.