Bob Mount: Customs, Yorkshire pudding and drawing stares

“Horrors. She touched the queen,” blared the front page of a British tabloid in an account of Michelle Obama’s encounter with Queen Elizabeth II.
Apparently, high-ranking members of the British royalty are not supposed to be touched by members of the bourgeois or proletarian classes. Richard Nixon was roundly criticized in British newspapers for daring to touch Princess Ann. It’s not as if he touched one of her breasts or patted her fanny; the touch consisted of a gentle handshake. Once, the only “untouchables” were members of the lowest caste of residents of India.

Visiting England years ago, I stopped for lunch at a small up-scale restaurant. I was accompanied by a young Englishman. I ordered Yorkshire pudding, which I assumed was a dessert, along with a fish filet and some vegetables. Our order arrived, along with what appeared to be a crusted roll about 4 inches long.

While eating, I sensed that some of the patrons were staring in my direction, kind of like some people stare at a friend of mine (I won’t mention his name but his initials are M.J.) when he dines at fancy restaurants like the Bistro. But my friend wears overalls and doesn’t remove his cap when seated, whereas I was dressed in my Sunday-go-to-meeting suit and using Emily Post manners.

I asked my friend, “Why are people staring at me? Am I doing something wrong?”

He replied, “Well, sir, you are eating your Yorkshire pudding with your fingers.

“It is customary to eat the pudding with a fork.” Maybe the next revision of “Emily Post” will contain a paragraph warning readers to avoid touching members of the British royal family, and that eating Yorkshire pudding using one’s fingers is a no-no.

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The most recent issue of Time Magazine (April 13) contained some alarming statistics about the rate of extinction of the world’s plant and animal life, up to 1,000 times as great as history’s background rate before humans began proliferating.

Author Bryan Walsh points out that the earth has experienced five extinction waves, the most recent of which ended the reign of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

He suggests that we may now be witnessing the beginning of the planet’s sixth great extinction wave, and that “this time the cause isn’t an errant asteroid or mega-volcano. It is us.”

Bryan wonders why defenders of wildlife (including himself) don’t simply surrender in their fight to preserve biodiversity.

He doesn’t believe they can afford to, contending, with sound reasoning, that the same natural qualities that sustain wildlife ultimately sustain us as well, whether we live in a concrete jungle or a green one.

The article quotes Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International, “We live on a very special planet — the only planet that we know has life. For me conservation is ultimately a moral obligation and simply the right thing to do.”

Bryan concludes, “That leaves us a choice. We can save life on this special planet, or be its unwitting
executioner.”

Bob Mount is emeritus professor of zoology and entomology at Auburn University and writes a weekly column for the Opelika-Auburn News.