I love food, that’s not a secret, I like to eat it, I like to cook it, smell it, shop for it, and…yeah I really enjoy food. Like anyone else I have preferences to some things over others, but not usually picky in the way of “well I’m not eating that” and I’ll try anything once. The reason I’m not picky is because I don’t like extreme pickiness, it irks me. Sometimes I suppose there are valid reasons to be picky, not often but I’ll admit those times can exist. But I’ll tell you the time it’s never, ever, ever cool…when your pet is picky. If you have a dog or cat that ever turns their nose up at food, then it’s in my opinion they don’t deserve to eat that day unless they go catch something like God meant them to, or they can learn to appreciate that we try to take the middle man out for them.

I have seen my dog, Sini, eat anything from decomposing body parts to something else’s fecal matter, yet when I put ramen noodles in front of her she walks away as if I just tried to pass Styrofoam and glass as turkey and gravy. I get why American dogs do this kind of crap, they are spoiled, have options, and their preferences are catered to. Your dog doesn’t like that brand of dog food so you have to buy the one that costs a dollar extra, or the cat only likes tuna and chicken flavored, so don’t forget and buy beef. Well I think its all bunk. But in Tonga, when the neighboring dogs are constantly fighting over scraps and you could play a jingle of your choice on their ribs, Sini better eat the damn chicken flavored noodles I put in front of her. But she doesn’t, instead the greedy little jackass goes around to our neighbors and eats what little food is thrown out to the pigs and dogs that don’t get that courtesy on a regular bases anyway.

My neighbors actually give her food! I tell them not to, especially when they don’t normally do that with other dogs, but since she’s my dog well it’s different. She’s a Palangi dog, she’s pretty, not all ratty and skinny looking…because I feed her, she’s not riddled with vicious battle scars…because I feed her, the only thing she does with other dogs is play, she’s not hungry enough to do anything else like try to rip each other apart. Wow, I mean I don’t treat her like a Palangi dog really, except feeding her, playing with her, petting her…well I guess I do, but I still don’t understand the developed pickiness that I never cater to.

I don’t think it’s good the way many Tongans treat animals, there’s often no compassion given the pathetic starving dogs, cats, or pigs, and personally I think if you’re willing to keep any animal around you need to put efforts into it’s general survival. Then again, in America it’s the extreme opposite where animals have annual physicals and specially formulated food with Calcium, iron, vitamin A, B, C, W, X, Y, Z…are you starting to follow me on this one? You know what I’m going to point out next right? Same thing I have in the past, there are starving animals but no starving or homeless people. I’m not saying one polar opposite is supreme over the other, I’m just pointing out this other realm with its societal function that is so different from another. It’s really weird to have lived in two places that so intensely differ.

Do I sound like a Hippie yet my friends? Liberal mumblings of societal change, and I bet you can visualize my “I ♥ Obama” bumper sticker crookedly stuck on my environmentally friendly hydrogen car, while listening to The Beatles promote yellow submarines and promise that all you need is love. Well I guess I can’t argue, but there are worse things to be…like a picky eater.