Never Return A Dish Empty

Yesterday, I got The Boy to returned a plate to one neighbour and a bowl to another. In each dish I placed a fruit and some candies. My mother saw me do this and asked me why. I've been doing this for so long with my one neighbour I had to think about how it got started.

My grandmother used to do that, put food or lucky money in an empty dish before returning it. She said it's bad manners to give someone an empty dish. Receiving an empty dish is bad luck - it signals a bare table and hungry stomachs. If someone's been kind enough to give food to you in their dish, you must not be so ungrateful as to give them the bad luck of returning the dish empty.

A few years ago, I sent some Christmas cookies to my neighbour. She returned the plate the next day with a few of her own cookies and a fruit. I asked her why she did that. She said, It's an Italian custom that you never return a dish empty; it's for good luck. I said, Us too, except no one I know practises this so I haven't done it. But since that day, when we return an empty dish to each other, we put something in it. Gradually, I've extended that practice to whoever I return a dish to.

In the initimable style of Martha Stewart, it's a small thing, but it's a good thing.