Emma’s food peeves: chewing loudly
I eat often, a lot and with great pleasure, and that means I regularly notice things. Often they’re positive things, but it also frequently happens that something irritates me immensely. Whether that’s justified or not, sometimes I just need to vent. Hence this feature: Emma’s food peeves, with this week’s topic being one that kills all appetite: chewing loudly.
You eat with all your senses. The sight of melted cheese stretching across your pizza or between your toasted sandwiches, the smell of freshly baked cookies spreading through the house. It all contributes to an even more delicious eating experience. Exactly the opposite happens when you’re sitting near someone who is shamelessly chewing loudly. Disgusting, goodbye appetite!
Misophonia
I’m not the only one who has problems with society’s loud chewers. There’s even an official diagnosis for it. In people with misophonia, loud chewing (or another specific sound) triggers extreme feelings of anger, disgust or hatred. Saying that I feel extreme hatred towards people who chew loudly would be going too far, but do I experience enormous irritation? Yes. Reduced appetite? Absolutely. Feel like giving someone a smack in the head? Actually, yes!
With your mouth open
Especially when people really eat with their mouths open, you’ve got me climbing the walls. Didn’t your parents raise you properly or something? Not only do you chew incredibly loudly, I also have to look at all the food circulating around in your mouth. And no, I can’t look the other way. Call it disaster tourism.
Can’t help it
Unfortunately, another type of person can’t help it. I can’t count the number of times I sat angrily at the table as a child because I was sitting next to my little brother or stepfather. Both are blessed with a jaw that seems to make as much noise as a power drill. They both eat neatly with their mouths closed, but the sound accompanying every bite is unbelievable. As if they were eating an entire cow instead of a perfectly cooked, tender piece of steak.
Solution?
Unfortunately, this is an annoyance I really will have to learn to live with. With the exception of those slobs who eat with their mouths open, people can’t really do much about their loud chewing. The solution? Simply wait to eat until the loud chewer has finished and silence has returned. There’s no other way.
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