If the Perfect Miracle Food were the food you despised most, would you eat a barrel of it anyway?
I’m beside myself [Ed: yes, right over here] with ecstasy that we live in an age where we’re constantly receiving updates apparently teleported, straight from God’s lips, on new life-saving Superfoods and diet strategies that will bring about world peace and end the shortage of sporty convertibles in our time. I realize that as long as there have been hucksters and hyperbolists that could spell Snake Oil there have been such claims filling the air and jamming our brainwaves with unrealistic wishful optimism. Purveyors of serious science and common sense have both long since given up on the possibility of coming to a definitive answer to the perpetual question of what’s good for us to eat, at least one on which all sentient beings can agree. That never stops anyone from trying either to discover it or to convince us (with our remarkably flexible wallet-hinges) that they have.
But the modern info-bombardment wherein we swim encourages us to see, hear and believe an ever-noisier, ever more enthusiastic and far-reaching set of claims to this Truth. Amazing! Astounding! and the ever-popular exclamation that I so love, Incredible! (As if I can’t tell just from the obnoxious typography of the advert and the hilariously awful before-and-after unretouched photos that there’s nothing remotely credible to be found in the accompanying claims.) Scientists are almost as guilty of outrageous claims as anyone, in this environment where every research program has to compete for every dime with not only every other genuine researcher but also the whole phalanx of false prophets and their wonderful platinum-plated products. It takes only a tiny effort for the completely uninformed amateur to sleuth out at least two diametrically opposed studies on any given dietary claim that have produced what looks and sounds like fairly convincing data, so I am loath to do anything more dramatic than take it all with a grain of salt.
. . . and how do you prefer your sodium chloride: hickory smoked or deep fried?
Which, indeed, is what I will likely do. Hey, there are enough mutually exclusive authorities regarding how much sodium is permissible in whose diet and in what forms to keep a whole herd of elk dying in wait for the salt lick. I’m fond enough of being alive and not feeling like, say, I’m in imminent danger of keeling over with toxins squirting out of every pore of my body while I disintegrate to dirty swamp water like the alien in a 50s B-movie that I do try on the average to put things into my mouth with a modicum of moderation and thoughtfulness. I look for what seems to make me feel my best and work to include that in my meals rather than always succumbing to the lure of the luridly unhealthy.
It just seems to me that we have actually been living for a bit right in the middle of Woody Allen‘s Sleeper. Regardless of your view on Woody Allen movies, I’m nearly at the point where I think all school health classes should be required to see that film at some juncture in their studies just for the scenes where hero Miles Monroe is brought out of his cryogenic sleep and is coached by his attending doctors on how the understanding of health has changed in the two hundred years while he was snoozing on ice. There’s something almost eerily familiar nowadays when reputable researchers and doctors from every corner are admitting that perhaps not all of our longtime religiously held convictions about sugars, fats, proteins and all of those other pesky elements of edibles we fear and worship are exactly the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. That perhaps there is a bit more difference in how one person or another is affected, and how good or evil that might be.
All I can say is, it’s kind of a relief to think that I don’t have total control over my destiny through what I ingest, so I’m going to continue to consider myself a so-far live experiment subject willing to undergo certain tests to see what can be most deliciously survived in my lifetime. Come on over and chow down with me, and don’t get too hung up on it, okay? There’s too much edible, drinkable goodness of every kind just hovering on the edge of my ken for me not to show it some respect and appreciation. Amen, let’s eat.
So many tasty choices, so little time . . .
Art-Colored Glasses 
I was just saying the other day to Mireille that as a kid, in SW texas we were kicked out the door , shoeless & shirtless at 8 am, in blistering 100 deg heat, to play until sunset, (sunscreen was unheardof)…my long lived grannies & grampies ate bacon wrapped bacon, splash basted fried eggs, pastries made with lard,toast dipped in meat fat, rejected anything green served on a plate and chased it with a meat pie for dessert. I’m not sayin’…I’m just sayin’
Don’t forget chicken-fried bacon with sausage gravy (available at a couple of local cafes here)! And when you get me going, of course I’m remembering the steel playground equipment we had over rammed-earth and even, sometimes, paved play yards (NO helmets! NO knee pads! EGAD!!!), riding on parents’ laps in cars, living in houses loaded with asbestos insulation and siding and lead paint and god-only-knows-what-else. It’s a miracle the human race even exists today, ain’t it. Of course all of this MIGHT explain a few things about certain celebrities and politicians and neighborhood eccentrics over the years too . . . .
So many tasty choices, so little time . . .YESSSSSS!!!! LOVE it! Kathryn….you are the most geniously genious writer and speaker of dee truth!!! I am so glad to be able to connect with your creative, whimsical, delightful brain once again!
Cheers, salud and nostrovia!! Graciela š
Ooopppsss…I meant GENIUS of course…not genious…did I create a new spelling of it? Genius I am not. š
Darling, your ability to create a neologism is a sign of genius itself, no? “Genious” sounds like the adjectival description of the quality of *being* a genius. It is, in fact, ingenious. I like that. š
Meanwhile, I’m glad you enjoyed visiting me here! I’m having fun working on this project and learning lots of new, interesting and occasionally wonderfully weird things here in this blogging world.
I’m soooo glad our paths crossed again at last. Clearly there will be a paradigm shift in the universe to accommodate the inevitable explosion of double-genius ahead.
PS–Is a whimsical anything like a popsicle? And if so, does that mean my brain is melting?? Not that it’ll make that big a difference. š
whimĀ·siĀ·calAdjective/Ė(h)wimzikÉl/
1. Playfully quaint or fanciful, esp. in an appealing and amusing way.
Aha, Kathryn, my dear old friend…you ARE whimsical, see??! Well, the playfully fanciful and appealing part of the definition, anyway!
You, your writing and art are a DELIGHT! Cheers and con-geniously yours, Graciela š
Very true! Love the humor.
We are just in the infancy of biological science. The mapping of the human genome is the start of the beginning of such a science. Let’s never forget the great diversity in physiological, genetic and pschological makeup of people.
Not to mention that some of us would rather live a slightly shorter life if that’s the tradeoff for a much richer one!!
Can I get an “AMEN?!” š
Hooray!! Encore!!! More…More…! It’s like they say, the best way to lie is with facts and statistics, or as PT Barnum is credited with saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Too bad critical thinking isn’t a required subject nowdays. š
I’ve often wished that the Logic-101 class I took as an undergrad were required for all school kids (the younger the better–little twerps often seem to have the most refined baloney-meters around!). It’s amazing to me what people will swallow!
I’m applauding, right now. How wonderful just to enjoy food, right? Because it tastes good and fills our bellies, and builds community, and makes glorious messes! Hooray for food! (And for any reasonable excuse to eat buttered, salted popcorn whenever I damn well feel like it.) Cheers to you, lady! And thanks so much for the smiles!
I’m only returning the favor when it comes to smiles–but maybe I’ll add a little butter to this helping!
Great pictures and montage š
Thank you, Mad Dog!
Thats the problem today everything is manufactured in a factory at it is so convinient with our busy lifestyle, I must admit I eat a lot of plastic noodles when I am in a hurry, I still rememeber those old days where my grandma used to cook our daily meals she used real ingredients like cocounut milk extracted by hands not in can, tamarind juice boiled for its sour taste not in a powdered form packets and even tomato sauce from 100% tomatoes not from a can. Anyways its all food and my prinicple in life is enjoy every food you may intake, life is short and you might not know there will be a remedy soon to remove those Yellow 5, Red 40, BHA, Gum Tragacanth, etc…
At least in the latter case, we’ll just have to hope that all of the weird preservatives we’ve ingested over the years will keep *us* well-preserved, eh? š
True, this generation will be well preserved like the Ancient Egyptians š
Just popping in to say hello. I had seen your post earlier and absolutely loved your collage of pictures of fruit and vegetables. I will check in from time to time but might not always leave a comment.
everything in moderation works for me!