Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Open Market
If there's one publicly recognized thing about Riza Hawkeye's private life, it's this: every Sunday morning at 0800 hours she can be found at Central's open market choosing and refusing various provisions for the week.
She is as austere in her crisp blouses and a-line skirts as she is in her straight blue uniform, all loveliness aside. She knows what she wants and what she doesn't, never hesitating to openly scrutinize the quality of food. But that doesn't stop butchers from falling over themselves (quite a risk, what with all their sharp cutlery) to be first to offer her the freshest meats along with dates, or the produce vendors from attempting to set Riza up with their sons with promises of cropland. Her seemingly strict but gentle manner awes them to no end.
It is also a known fact that Riza Hawkeye only buys enough to feed one person: one pound of steak (t-bone; she doesn't forget Black Hayate), four potatoes, one stalk of celery, plenty of apples, and a fresh loaf of bread. Maybe chicken or pork one week, carrots instead of celery, but never more than what only she can eat.
So every Sunday morning, as she leans over to inspect the freshness of the vegetables, hair spilling over her shoulder, she reveals more than she says when she hands a merchant a minimal amount of food. Surely a woman as charming and confident as she would have no trouble finding a man to cook for, many assume. The others breathe a sigh of relief as they hand over mutton chops, glad there still is a chance of romancing Riza despite her tinkling laugh of rejection.
So the day she bought enough to feed two people, hearts broke across the market as the news of Riza Hawkeye's relationship status traveled quickly from one dealer to another.