Eat All Your Rice or Marry a Crater Face

All my life, the expectation was to finish my food.  This meant I was forced to finish every last bite of rice in my bowl, no matter how full I was.  In the situation where I left some rice, I'd be threatened with the old Chinese wives' tale that I'd grow up and marry a crater face or ma lien.

This is not the worst outcome in life, but having heard it over and over again, I'd put my head down, obedient and filial, and finish my rice without further thought.

In terms of being picky about food, the same expectation applied, meaning there was no option.  You ate what you were given, no matter how much you disliked it  In Chinese, there's this phrase called pien shi which means selectively picky and you are NEVER EVER to be this when it comes to eating.

I didn't really believe my mom, but I ate all my food because that's what a good Chinese daughter does and I never had much of a rebellious streak in me.  But when middle school came along and I found myself crushing on a guy with true craters in his face, I ate my rice even faster and with more intention than ever before.  Every single rice grain in my bowl was consumed.

With time, the crush on the crater face subsided - that, or I was eating all my rice properly.  

Years later, when my fiance had a pimple on his cheek that turned into a scar, I questioned myself about whether I was eating all my rice again, as if I had fated him with the whole in his face.  It's not like I believe any of it, but better safe than sorry right?

the crater in question on the left side of his face... it's disappeared now but was quite prominent for a while when I didn't finish my rice...