I'm a pretty fast eater except when I deliberately make myself slow down.

In my case, it comes from years of having a 30-minute lunch period. And, when I was a smoker, I also had to have enough time left over to get outside and have the cigarette and hit the rest room before going back to work.

Slow because usually I am talking instead of eating....My sis has to hold the world record on slow eaters though..LOL Stacy

I'm a slow eater. My sister is a fast eater. Her DH was one of 4 boys. Man is he a fast eater. Like Dotmom said. He had to eat fast to get any second helpings.
Leslie

I think I am average, although if need be I can eat fast. It comes from only having a ten or 15 minute lunch break at school as I had to go count all the money taken in from the cafeteria during the lunch hour. But I do not eat that fast unless I have too.

Sue

I eat and drink very slowly as well. I think it's a lot healthier for you and that you don't eat as much as fast eaters.

I'm a slow eater. I'm always the last one at the table too. It is suppose to be better if you eat slowly because you eat less. I always have leftovers from dinner because I am too full to ever clean my plate.
Clare

I'm a FAST eater. I can have my plate finished while DH and DS are still putting on the condiments, fiddling with their food, etc. We call DS the "condiment king". !!

Slow. My husband eats fast...comes from being in the Army, in his case.

I'm a slow eater--I like to savor my food, and since I love to cook, I also want to know if I need to adjust the seasonings on a dish, or add or subtract some ingredient.
My husband is a fast eater--probably left over from his childhood when you got his mother's cooking down as fast as you could so you didn't taste it!

Dottie, I think your DH is right about growing up in a large poor family. LOL That's ME! You should see any of us eat popcorn!

I have become aware of the fact that I am a food woofer.
I am working on consienciously chewing thoroughly every bite. It is not easy, but it has taken care of the pain I had in my stomach after eating.

i've slowed waaay down from the days when i was working a 9-5 job...my uncle's doc got all over him for eating so fast. he made him chew every bite, and put his fork down between bites...it took my uncle ages, but he finally got his lunch "times" longer...(like 20 minutes for sit-down lunch)

i try and get dh to do it, but so far he still beats me every meal together...

Fast eater, but have worked on slowing down and enjoying it more. After years in school with 20-25 min for lunch, including standing in line to get it, you'd have to wolf it down if you were going to eat. In grade school I always brought my lunch so it wasn't so bad. But high school was not good for the digestive system. That's been a peeve of mine ever since.

Although as a kid, the faster you eat, the sooner you could go do what you were doing. That too was a mistake in hindsight.

I'm a FAST eater. I can have my plate finished while DH and DS are still putting on the condiments, fiddling with their food, etc.
That sounds like my family. I'm usually the first one done eating too.

very slow, and i cant eat anything without having something to read lol hard habit to break since my mom says ive done it since ive learned to read, drives my dad crazy though! my brother and my one neice oh my gosh i dont know how they can even taste their food, im not even done putting my plate together and they are done!

I try to have three small meals during the day, which I pick at. Usually oatmeal, then later fruit, then veggie tray. By evening I have a meal and eat very small portions so it goes fast. With my bridge I have to work on chewing longer especially steak.

I don't eat too fast or too slow. I do want to eat it as soon as it's ready, though. I want the food at the temp and texture it's supposed to be, hot food hot, cold food cold, not sitting at room temp. It annoys me when my family takes too long to come to the table!

My 7 y/o is a very sloooow eater! He is always the last one done, and he eats the whole time, he usually eats everything he's given. He is just in no hurry about it. He takes his lunch to school, and often brings a good deal of it back home, runs out of time to eat it. I wonder how it can take him 30 minutes to eat one apple!

I'm slow,but DH and #1 son are both very fast eaters.I tell them they just inhale their food.
Kathi

Slow!
Blink your eyes and my son is finished.

I like to enjoy my food. Relax! Why hurry?

Fast. I want my hot food HOT and my cold food COLD.

I'm right in the middle between slow and fast.

Fast..too many years of working and having to rush, followed by years of eating fast as you feed kids so you can have hot dinner.
DH was in the Navy for 30 years and eats fast because there wasn't much time, and it's hard to slow down after all those years.
My kids were very slow eaters and as adults they are even slower! GO figure! Kathy

Slow - always last one done when I go out with friends. I never thought I was slow growing up, 'cause my mom is even slower. :)

Just add my name to Stoneybaloney's reply....exact same reason for being a fast eater: 30 minutes to eat, grab a ciggie and go potty.

Way too fast....also from a large family of 8 kids. Our motto was always "He who eats the fastest gets the mostest"

I've never met anyone who ate more slowly than I do. Out for dinner or lunch with a lot of people? The waiter is clearing their plates before I've eaten half of whatever small portion I've ordered. I can still be eating an appetizer or salad when everyone else has asked for the dessert menu. (I often order just an appetizer and salad.)

The only meal I finish before DH is breakfast!

I *think* I may need to eat so slowly because I had pyloric stenosis as an infant and had surgery.

I feel sorry for anyone who goes to pains to cook a nice dinner for a family that wolfs it down and is out the door in 20 minutes. I wouldn't bother.

We should probably also ask the old question: Do you eat to live or live to eat? (I eat to live.)

I feel just like chisue. Especially for big holiday dinners that take hours to plan, shop for and prepare, just to have nothing but dirty dishes to show for it 20 minutes after it hits the table.

Oh, to answer the question, I'm a really slow eater. My mother used to be big on chewing your food X-amount of times.

Fast eater. The habit started when my sons were babies...
had to eat fast...before one started crying or both and I never got back to finishing my food.

Medium. I was a fast eater as a kid, unless it was a food I didn't like, like fish, then I dawdled.