- English translation
Eat beans and you'll be trudging every which way; eat kebab and you'll stay put behind the door.
- Literal wording
Whoever eats fava beans walks far and wide, while whoever eats kebab stays behind the door.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying protests unequal treatment: one person is made to keep moving back and forth, while another is allowed to stay settled at home. The contrast between the two foods sharpens the sense that hardship and ease have been handed out unfairly.
It may also comment on the uneven turns of fortune, where people receive sharply different lots without an obvious just basis. Its imagery can frame a complaint that one person is put out and inconvenienced while another is spared the same demands.
- When it is used
Use it to point out a lopsided outcome between two people, one kept constantly on the move while the other stays comfortably at home, or more broadly to remark that some simply enjoy better luck than others. It suits wry or frustrated complaint.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Eat beans and you'll be trudging every which way; eat kebab and you'll stay put behind the door.