I am always on the lookout for folks whose actions agree with mine, but who come from a different angle. Allows me to examine my actions more rigorously and also allows a quick wallow in the swamp of moral superiority, which I always find refreshing.
Anyway, I have been poking around the “slow food” movement recently. I like what they say, cut your costs, live closer in on the food chain, cook good stuff for yourself. These cats are groovy man. But then you start reading their stuff. Crap, a swing and a miss. Just the same kind of self-righteous crap that you get from every other movement.
What is one of the most telling things to me personally is the idea that what you consume is a mark of your personal virtue. In this world, it would appear that a organic, macrobiotic child molester is somewhat superior to a Whopper munchin’ saint. What a load of crap. What you put down your gullet is personal preference, nothing more and nothing less. A cheeto is not really any more virtuous than a steamed potato, it is merely a matter of how you choose to utilize your vanishingly small portion of the worlds resources.
So yesterday, it started out with homemade breakfast of sautéed pancetta with sliced up potatoes with rosemary, salt, and pepper. Pretty good stuff. But after reading the preachy, self righteous crap of some of the slow food devotees, for lunch I got in the car, went over to McDonalds and bought a couple of Big Mac’s (2 for $3.00) and consumed them with vigor. They were as I remembered them, not bad. I couldn’t imagine doing it regularly though.
What I am trying to say here is that stuff like your food and your tastes in clothes and what you want out of a car are ephemera. Keep them that way. If you want them, recognize them for what they are, a vanity. Keep them or don’t as it suits you. Get rid of them if you need and don’t look back. The biggest lesson to remember is that none of these things brings virtue. Sneering at someone for what they eat is as vulgar as sneering at someone for the color of their skin.
7 comments:
As usual, your thoughts are refreshingly contrarian, but right on the money.
I am married to a good woman who does, unfortunately, tend to judge people based on their diets and body mass index...
Ah well, we all have our prejudices and areas of snobbishness. Unless we are Big Mac-eating saints!
I agree. And sneering at someone because of the vehicle they drive is also vulgar. Or at someone's religon. Or at someone's income level.
I admit, though, that I sneer at obese people and those kids with their pants so low that their underwear is showing.
"sautéed pancetta with sliced up potatoes"...isn´t that just fried bacon and potatoes?
Yeah..But doesn't Pancetta sound so much more pretentious than mere bacon?
Yeah..But doesn't Pancetta sound so much more pretentious than mere bacon?
I try to eat local and as close to the source as possible because I'm occasionally freaked out by what is being put into our foods.
And I prefer the term "voluptuous" ;)
So does Husband. ;)
If you ever read Michael Pollan's Omnivore Dilemma (and the follow up) the answer is to eat real food when you can, avoid things you can't pronounce and live your life.
(did that sound preachy? i didn't intend it to)
Ah, I thought you were a secret foodie who slipped. Can we add what you listen to on the radio to the list?
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