…because if there’s one thing you can do to help the starving children of Africa, it’s to eat a cupcake. (Sigh.)
That said, nobody wants the damn thing after you’ve taken a bite out of it. Don’t try to assuage your guilt/food issues by telling yourself that someone else will eat it.
related: The Nibbler — the plague of office breakrooms everywhere
extra credit: Charity Navigator’s top-rated charities providing aid to victims of famine and drought in Africa
85 responses so far ↓
#1
Susan
I think the note was addressing the person who took the bite, not that it was written by that person. I think the writer meant, “How could you, Person Who Took A Bite, not be able to just go ahead and eat the whole thing? Now it will be wasted because no one else will want to touch it.”
Mar 25, 2012 at 8:22 pm rating: 90
#2
Colleen Martel
I have these ladies at work that do something similar-they eat half of everything and leave the other half for someone else. You know what, NEW RULE-if you ass is so big you feel you can only eat half and want to tear a chocolate chip cookie in half and leave the other torn half because ‘ someone will eat it’ -DO NOT DO IT!
Mar 25, 2012 at 8:24 pm rating: 90
#3
Sam
The person who wrote the note is right.. It’s a mini cupcake, not even a normal/ big one. Just take it with you if you can’t finish it right there because no1 is going to touch that.
Mar 25, 2012 at 8:33 pm rating: 90
#4
lupanime
It looks like the person who took the bite just didn’t like that particular mini cupcake.
About the waste: my husband is a chef and has worked in several restaurants. You’d be surprised to know how many waiters LOVE eating customer’s leftovers. They even fight and curse for them if they see someone throwing the leftobers in the garbage bin! I know, it’s grosssssss
Mar 25, 2012 at 8:41 pm rating: 90
#5
Suspended Donkey
I would like to posit that said cupcake did not taste as expected. Fine. But, come on, NotePoster, what you gonna do? Mail a half-eaten cupcake to some waif in Africa?
It’s in a paper bowl, from what I can tell, so just throw the damn thing away if you don’t like it.
Mar 25, 2012 at 9:17 pm rating: 90
#6
infanttyrone
Dear Facilitator of Cupcake Abandonment Issues:
Maybe you’re too young to have developed a taste for Red Velvet, or maybe the ratio of icing to cake is too high. Maybe you thought you detected an adulterant like paprika or Visine…whatever the cause…
Take it back to your desk or work area and dump it if you don’t like it.
Dear Conscience of All Things Food:
“There are starving children in Africa you know.”
Without a comma after Africa, (like that one) you are asserting that the cupcake abandoner is on familiar terms with starving children there.
If, in some emotional paroxysm, you just forgot the comma, then please give us the names and locations of at least five of these starving children.
BTW, that is a lot of icing, and WTF are those red sprinkles on top of it ?
Mar 25, 2012 at 11:10 pm rating: 90
#7
Sioux
Every mouthful you eat after you’re full is wasted; sure, it’s wasted if you put it in the bin but it’s also wasted if you put it in your mouth. The only difference is that if you put it in your mouth it’s bad for you. Guilt trips like this are a short road to obesity.
Mar 26, 2012 at 12:23 am rating: 90
#8
Hazel
Reminds me of when I was a kid and my Mom and Dadwould try to get me to eat my dinner by telling me that starving children in Africa would love to have a meal like this. My standard reply was “Well send it to Africa then so I don’t have to eat it”.
Mar 26, 2012 at 12:31 am rating: 90
#9
QoS
I was the same. Parents tried to guilt-trip me into eating my food via the starving-children-in-Africa angle. Until, at 7 yrs old, my mother caught me trying to cross a busy road to get to the post office with a half-eaten sandwich in an envelope. The envelope was labelled:
Starving Children, Africa
That was the end of that.
Mar 26, 2012 at 5:26 am rating: 90
#10
Eileen
We don’t have to go all the way to Africa. There are starving children right here in America. And they still wouldn’t want that bitten cupcake.
Mar 26, 2012 at 7:24 am rating: 90
#11
Lil'
I don’t really know why she took the time to write the note. If she hates waste, she should just put it in a sealed container in the fridge and wait for the breakroom bandit to steal it. It’s a win-win.
Mar 26, 2012 at 7:46 am rating: 90
#12
Adriana
Food is not zero sum. Food that I eat or don’t eat or half eat has nothing to do with why kids in Africa are starving. It’s fine, maybe even preferable, to stop eating when you don’t like food or you’re not hungry anymore. Or you could be like my grandfather who sits down with a box of cookies, eats the ENTIRE THING, and then says, “God, those were awful cookies.”
Mar 26, 2012 at 9:48 am rating: 90
#13
janos
I cant resist eating the icing and leaving the cupcake for someone else.
Mar 26, 2012 at 10:33 am rating: 90
#14
bookworm
Being forced by OCD parents to finish everything on one’s plate is why there is an “obesity epidemic” in the States right now. I’d rather have someone decide that maybe they can’t finish all their dinner and leave it than cram it all in their face anyway and then spend the rest of the evening complaining about how they’re going to gain weight.
And this is coming from someone who still has a hard time pushing their plate aside when they’re full. Thanks for the food guilt, mom.
Mar 26, 2012 at 11:07 am rating: 90
#15
deprogrammed
If you diet doesn’t allow the entire thing, for goodness sake leave it alone entirely. I hate random snackers. Not to mention the pure heresy of ruining a red velvet cupcake for someone who isn’t pretending to give a damn about the calories.
Mar 26, 2012 at 3:50 pm rating: 90
#16
sgtyukon
Children are starving in Africa? Then, by all means, send them my asparagus!
Mar 26, 2012 at 4:48 pm rating: 90
#17
Omnivore
That cupcake was fucking disgusting.
Mar 26, 2012 at 5:26 pm rating: 90
#18
chelle
Africa? Hell, there are staving children in Detroit…
Mar 28, 2012 at 11:07 am rating: 90
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