Health & Lifestyle
Pleasure and health. Apicius' lavish enjoyment meets Brillat-Savarin's philosophy of taste.
ApiciusvsBrillat-Savarin
The Question
My doctor just told me I need to lose 40 pounds or I'm looking at diabetes and heart problems. The thing is, I LOVE food. Cooking is my hobby, eating out is my social life, and wine is my way of unwinding. I've tried diets before. They make me miserable. I spend all day thinking about what I can't eat. Food stops being pleasurable and becomes the enemy. I lose 15 pounds, feel deprived and joyless, then gain back 20. My wife says I need to learn "moderation." My doctor says I need to treat food as "fuel, not entertainment." But food IS entertainment to me—it's culture, connection, art. Can I save my health without killing my joy? Or do I have to choose between a longer life and a life worth living?
The table is where civilization is built, friendships forged, memories made. I lived lavishly and regret nothing. But I also ended my life when I could no longer feast as I wished. You have a choice I did not see: feast less grandly but feast longer. Quality of pleasure, not quantity of food.
54 votes
Gastronomy is the reasoned comprehension of nourishment. Your doctor is wrong—food should never be mere fuel. But your current path is not gastronomy; it is gluttony without attention. Eat half as much, twice as slowly, with three times the attention. True pleasure requires presence, not volume.
45 votes
99 votes total