A couple days ago I sent an ask where I wondered how Tara took care of herself despite Christina's neglect, and your response got me thinking:

Christina was almost definitely providing Tara with money, but that would only go so far (a good portion might have had to be spent on other things, like clothes or utilities). Tara wouldn't have been able to get a job for several years, and she wouldn't have been able to rely solely on her friends families to provide her with food either. If her friends parents were helping her with buying groceries frequently enough, or she was going over for almost every single meal, then eventually someone would have eventually noticed that something was really wrong, and would have most likely contacted CPS (then again the authorities in Woodsboro are a bit of a joke).

That line of thinking eventually led to a headcanon: what if Tara has slight food insecurity because of Christina's neglect? Like whenever they start to run low on food in New York, instead of making a list and going shopping like most people do, Tara just immediately starts rationing it.

The best part about this is how much it must weigh on Sam too.

I was already thinking Tara lives off a simple diet- noodles and rice and pasta. Unbalanced and bland and cheap.

Tara can't bring herself to buy more food when there's food in the house, but Tara's definition of food is... different, so Sam does all the grocery shopping.

Sam spent 5 years away doing nothing but working on herself and saving money, so that she wouldn't come back into her sister's life a failure. But she can't bring herself to tell Tara that, - it's her emergency fund now, it's her we have to run now fund - so now she works two jobs to make sure they have enough that Tara doesn't anxiously reweigh her food and reduce her portion sizes, so that she can eat more than once a day and suffer through a balanced diet like she should. Tara still hasn't figured out how to enjoy food yet, but Sam's working on it.

graph of what being hungry is like with adhd

i always think abt my cousin in greece who's like obsessed with american culture, bc ill say that im going to a barbecue and she'll be like "wow.... a real life american barbecue... will there be red cups?" you bet your ass there'll be red cups. take my hand. have a hot dog. all your dreams can come true here at the real life american barbecue

i must not get takeout. takeout is the wallet-killer. takeout is the little-death that brings total obliteration. i will face the kitchen, fridge, and pantry. i will make choices about what to cook and then execute them. when hunger is gone there will be nothing. only i will remain.

"Isn't it weird that [thing humans commonly eat] is poisonous to literally every domesticated animal" I mean, there's a pretty good chance that [thing humans commonly eat] is at least mildly poisonous to humans, too. One of our quirks as a species is that we think our food is bland if it doesn't have enough poison in it.

“ew thick water gross and weird” ITS NOT FUCKING FOR YOU!!!!! “ew why buy pre-cut vegetables when you can cut your own” ITS NOT FUCKING FOR YOU!!!!!! “I don’t need a device to help me put my socks on I’m not lazy” ITS NOT FUCKING FOR YOU !!!!!!!!! “Why drink liquid meals when you can cook them” ITS!!!!! NOT!!!!!! FOR!!!!!! YOU!!!!!!!!

Please help the family of a non-verbal autistic child (who has been losing weight because he only eats certain kinds of food, largely unavailable during this time) leave Gaza!

Meanwhile, in the world of football, the Pop Tart Bowl had an anthropomorphic Pop Tart who asked to be lowered into a giant toaster, holding a sign saying "DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE"

The toaster then spat out a human-sized Pop Tart with a face for the winning team to eat

And they devoured the edible mascot ravenously

It was probably a casting coincidence but Tara being much smaller than her sister (and basically everyone else) adds so much to the narrative. We can be direct and say oh well it was genetics and DNA.

BUT

we could also say something about her childhood and infancy, her relationship w her parents, her relationship w her sister, her relationship w food, etc it could take an interesting and layered route

I've joked about short king Mr Carpenter before, but I'm way more invested in all the other possibilities instead.

I like to mention that Tara has trouble eating/feeding as a child. Combine that with neglectful parents, you get a child who doesn't get the nutrition and food they need. You know what else can stunt growth? Chronic stress. It's real stressful living in a house with a mother who doesn't care about at best, and outright hates you at worst. Watching your sister - the only person who cares about you, the person you love most in this world - decline and become angry and distant and fall into addiction, that's pretty stressful.

There seems to be some debate over whether asthma will also affect adult height or not, so I'm going to err on the side of it doesn't. However, the condition can make eating/swallowing difficult, and inhalers can irritate the throat, which may attribute to less interest in eating as it hurts. Between that and sensory issues, the sense of fear and unsafeness she would experience as a child, she didn't have a good relationship with food. After all, you don't feel hungry if you don't feel safe.

Then as a teenager moving into an adult, the causes are a lot more mental and neglect related. Cheap and easy-to-make food with small portions become a staple when you're not sure when there will be money again.

Sam has always done her best, but she's just a child herself, trying to raise her little sister. She doesn't know what to do when her sister won't eat, so she sticks to the things she knows she will (with some encouragement), it doesn't make for a nutritious meal, but it's better than nothing, is always the saying. But years and years of this, it takes its toll.

U.S. people, if you bought cinnamon from Dollar Tree, Dollar General, or other discount stores, throw it out. It's got lead

When you accidentally remove the load-bearing pierogi and the entire contents of the freezer come spilling out

Tumbleweed needs everyone to know that I am his most cruel and heartless mother for decreasing the amount of food he gets due to him gaining a third again his body weight over the last year no that is not all fur Tumbleweed you are shaped like a pregnant sheep!

He has spent much of the day stomping from room to room while yelling his immense displeasure.

you ever get surprised by your own recurring issues. like come on man. I thought we were past this.