100 Word Stories - Hospitality (Repost from Facebook, 22 November 2009)

In some cultures, it is a terrible insult to your host if you eat all the food on your plate at dinner. It says, “You are a stingy and unwelcoming host.” In other cultures, it is great praise. It says, “You are a generous and gracious host.”
As the honored guest at a ceremony of the Korowai of Papua New Guinea, I do not know which custom they follow. Frankly, I could not care less how much of me they leave on their plates. It is hardly the debate to have with oneself in the broth, amongst the root vegetables.

This was my entry for the prompt of "Hospitality" from the 100 Word Stories Podcast, Weekly Challenge #187 (for Week of 11/29)