Food that fights back

                                                              Male Sparrowhawk

Looking at that gopher tortoise, the crusty meat pie on legs, reminded me that I don't like food that fights back. For example:
- chilli and curry dishes that burn your lips and your throat
- peas and small broad beans that refuse to let themselves be forked
- peanuts and any crumbly food that takes refuge between your molars
- slushy rice-pudding-type dishes that delight in falling on to your shirt front
- long wriggly pasta or noodles that remain dangling from your lips however hard you suck
Well, you get the idea.
I was also reminded of the notion of food that fights back when I watched a male Sparrowhawk on the lawn the other day trying to subdue a young Starling. If I were a male Sparrowhawk (by the way, in most species of raptor, the male is smaller than the female), I would stick to sparrows and finches. I can see the temptation to go for a Cumberland sausage rather than a chipolata, so to speak, but the struggle burns up a lot of energy. "Say not the struggle naught availeth", well, yes, in the end the Sparrowhawk got the better of the young Starling, but took quite a beating from the Starling's sharp claws and dagger-like beak before ripping its flesh to pieces.
No, I definitely don't like food that fights back.