I know danger has already answered your question, but I thought I'd show another possibly clearer way to accomplish your aim, using a slightly different style. 
sub do_that {
  my $self = shift;
  my %args = ref($_[0]) ? %{$_[0]} : @_;
  $args{chew} ||= $self->{food} || 'meat';
  return "I like $args{chew)!\n";
}

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In reply to Re: Passing a list to an Object by repson
in thread Passing a list to an Object by lzcd

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