Translation:
Rhetorical question: IF I go ahead and transfer the contents of the open tin of cat food into a tupperware and place it it in the fridge, and IF I forget to label it, and IF my husband makes himself a sandwich with it because he believed it to be pate… and IF he has already eaten it, am I thereby obliged to tell him?
Something for you to contemplate… original source of the quote above unknown, I found it on social media and it got me thinking. First of all I had to think back to when I was in High School and my uncle came to visit from LA. This is one of my mom´s younger brothers, and in her family the men are the cooks and defend their territory in the kitchen fiercely. When she and my dad were first married back in 1966, my grandfather (The Judge) did not trust my mom to cook her new husband a decent meal, so he sent his son to check up on the newlyweds and make sure she was not becoming a serial can opener. My dear uncle reported back to The Judge that his new brother-in-law experimented with lemonade and would serve florescent green, shocking pink, or baby blue lemonade (Daddy was working food processing), and that his sister could fry fish decently enough but her seasoning skills left much to be desired.
Roughly 17 years later the tables were turned and it was mom´s turn to inspect his parenting and cooking skills when he descended on us for a couple of days. Jet-lagged and hungry, Uncle B waddled into the kitchen, sniffed around and discovered a large pot on the stove with rice and fish. Without further ado he scooped some of it into a bowl, grabbed a spoon and began eating, not even flinching at the fish heads. My mother walked in on him just when he was about to get a second helping and he commented that after all these years she still had not learned too cook properly.
Mommy screamed at him, berating him for depriving our four dogs of their perfectly portioned meal! Had he waited or even asked properly she would have pointed him to the gorgeous meal she had prepared for us for dinner, tucked away in the oven. Daddy later said she should have just let him be, since he was perfectly satisfied already and didn´t do justice to dinner, as expected.
Do you stand by and let someone continue in their mistaken assumption when they are perfectly happy with the results, or do you burst the bubble and let them in on the secret? Home-cooked pet food or most known commercial brands are perfectly safe for human consumption. In fact, if you ever visit an animal expo and stumble across the pet food vendors, you will often find someone proving their point by eating direct from the tin. Hint: cat food has higher meat content than dog food.
In a similar manner, has a Hindu or Muslim committed a sin if he / she eats beef / pork without knowing? Most will tell you the sin comes from committing the act knowingly and with intent, but if it was an innocent mistake, especially in another culture, they cannot be faulted.
How many of you have eaten the cat food?
FrogDiva Thoughts 