.culture, schmulture

a story I heard while staying up all night with my friend Garner.
"So, my moroccan friend decided to invite me over to his parents house for dinner. They don't speak much english, but I figured I'd be fine.
Well, they served me a huge plate of fantastic food. Even though it was more than I could eat, I cleaned the plate to be polite. As soon as I finished, his mom took my plate, reloaded it, and came back. Not wanting to insult her, I ate it all. The, she did it again, and again, piling more food on as fast as I could finish. I'd be damned if I insulted her cooking by not eating it, so I ate myself green.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, his mother was desperately reheating last week's leftovers to keep me eating. Turns out, Moroccan etiquette dictates that when you finish eating, you leave a bit on your plate to infer that your hostess fed you amply. A cleared plate needs to be refilled, and it's an insult to make your hostess do it.
Finally, the fifth plate came, and I threw up my hands and said that I couldn't eat anymore, apologizing. His mother threw up her hands and demanded in arabic why her son had brought such a rude bastard into the house.
Her son translated between us until the mess was sorted out. My friend's mom laughed, hugged me, and invited me to come back for dinner next week. "By then, my fridge might have recovered from your Canadian manners."