ood Fights, Never

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

The Baron was a relatively even-tempered person and got along with the other royal families of Europe and the everyday citizens of Lilliland. There were very few things that made the Baron angry. He was, by nature, a very frugal person, as were his parents. He did not like waste in any form. “Waste not, want not,” was the traditional phrase that had been drummed into his head.

A few times, he was at a restaurant and saw some young people, not only wasting their food, but actually picking it up and throwing it at their friends as a joke.

The parents of the children did not pay much attention to the fuss caused by throwing the food and just paid their bill and left. The mess that was left behind was expected to be cleaned up by the waiters and waitresses.

The Baron was furious and got the names of the parents and had them brought to his office the next day. He wanted them to explain why they saw their children throwing food and did nothing to stop them. The parents respectively said that it was not a big deal. If they paid for the food they should be able to do with it as they pleased. This made the Baron angrier and asked them to think about what they just said and that they would talk again.

Professor Hamblin heard about the incident and urged caution in dealing with the incident. The Professor said that perhaps the parents should be given a clean-up bill from the restaurant and bar them from coming back to the restaurant for a year, or something else that might be deemed more appropriate.

If their behavior in public disturbed other people who were quietly enjoying their dinner, they should be summoned for creating a public disturbance.

The key thing that the Baron realized while talking about it with his fiancée, Lady Angela of Alpine Castle, was that he was overacting. He just didn’t like people not giving food the care and attention that it deserved.

The Baron often commented that when he visited the produce stand at the farmers market, the color and texture and natural beauty of fresh fruits and vegetables were almost as appealing as the rows of flowers.

Hopefully the parents had learned a lesson about respect for food and food service in the future. The Baron hopes so.