I was asked recently why I eat quickly and hunched over my food in a quite protective fashion. I had not noticed this behaviour and reflected on why this might be so. I figured it out in less time it takes to swallow an oyster.

I am the youngest of five, and my elder siblings all had voracious appetites. My mother, who worked a full-time job from my earliest memory, always managed to have a three-course (and sometimes four-course) meal on the table by the time my father came home from work. She served us one at a time, daily rotating the order of who got their’s when. My brother, Michael, would always finish first. And then, excitedly, he would point to the window of the kitchen and beyond, yelling “David, look at that!”

Each time, I looked. “At what?” I asked, staring earnestly. By the time I had returned my attention to my plate of food, my last roast potato, which I had been saving to last, had gone. Every time.

So if there are children reading this, hold on to your food when someone bigger than you tells you to look away.