ABSTRACT
Should a domestic worker be expected to eat left-overs at her employers’ home? In a lively discussion on this topic in the June 2005 edition of Fuping Newsletter,1 migrant women were divided. One woman said: “We’re from the countryside so we know best how hard it is to grow food. Eating left-overs is OK; throwing them away is so wasteful.” Another disagreed, saying that she would be happy to eat food left in the wok and cooking pots, but drew the line at eating scraps from employers’ bowls. “After all, we’re not family, and it’s not hygienic to eat from other people’s bowls.” Yet another offered her experience in her employers’ home:
Back home, I never ate left-overs. Since starting work here I’ve eaten lots of them because I don’t want to cause trouble and lose my job. It’s quite upsetting (xinli nanshou). Because both my employers and I feel awkward eating at the same table, I eat separately from them, and often end up eating their left-overs. Whenever this happens, I get really upset.2
