Care to Share?

One of my favorite parts of going to a meal with friends is splitting an appetizer. I love appetizer foods and if they weren’t the unhealthiest foods ever, I’d probably consider getting them for the meal instead. So when I’m with a group of people, I look forward to ordering an appetizer for the table to get my fix. But what happens when sharing certain appetizers goes bad?

Now everyone out there loves to eat nachos, especially when there’s all kinds of stuff piled on top like cheese, chicken, sauces, etc. However, in all of my years of nacho eating, I have never come across a time when the cheese was equally distributed over the entire plate of nachos. This is where the issues come in to play because everyone wants that big lump of cheese. The question is who is clever and strong enough to make the move to get it first. You have many different types of food sharing people: those that just don’t care and attack the plate no matter who gets hurt and others that are more passive and wait for an opportunity to get that big chip with tons of cheese and other stuff on it. There’s potential for a lot of broken hearts when the “nacho bully” comes around, grabs that huge chip with the large piece of cheese hanging on it you’ve been eyeing and leaves just naked chips left on the plate. And then there’s that one chip sitting in the middle that looks all innocent but happens to be connected to 17 other chips, thus giving that lucky person the majority of the food. There needs to be some kind of appetizer sharing etiquette. I’ve seen friendships end and families torn apart from bad appetizer sharing experiences.

Another issue to consider is when there’s one chip or chicken wing left on the plate. Everyone wants to eat it but no one wants to look too selfish. The most textbook move is to ask everyone “do you want the last one?” because of course no one is going to say, “yeah, it’s mine.” The person who asks the questions is always the person who will get to eat it. As an accountant, I’m all for doing some kind of formula for a distribution based on the number of pieces of food remaining, the amount everyone has eaten thus far, potential dinners on their way, and an X-factor of people I like best. I’ll have to crunch some numbers and see if I can come up with something that makes sense. Along the same lines, if you’re on a date, as a man are you required to give the woman the last piece? I don’t think so, especially if the guy is paying. Woman can show their appreciation by letting your hungry guy get that last mozzarella stick, it goes a long way.

So next time you’re all eyeing down the last cheese-filled nacho or fighting over the final french fry, consider your appetizer etiquette. A small sacrifice now can pay off big in the long run.