Why Voluptuous IS NOT a Synonym for Fat, Part I

A man combs the pages of his monthly cooking magazine for appealing recipes.  After making a selection he goes to a very good grocer (for money is not an issue for our aspiring chef) and hand picks his ingredients:  Sinewy stalks of deep green broccoli rabe, lush handfuls of amber brown grains, a lean cut of meat with just a hint of gleaming white fat--  he is, after all, entertaining.  His friend joins him for a glass of carefully selected wine as he precisely measures out the oils for his vinaigrette, gently grills the meat and plates their meal.  Each person has a colorful, balanced plate of a minute piece of meat, three broccoli rabe stalks and a small spoonful of rice.  They sit together and the chef inhales every bite of his food, exclaims that he is very full and pushes away from the table.  His companion eats his way through his plate, and though his stomach is still gnawing at itself, does not ask for, nor is he offered, an additional portion.  They enjoy each other's company, sipping down the bottle of wine, late into the evening, when the guest excuses himself, heads home and eats a second dinner.


Compare that scene with a passage from M.F.K Fisher's The Gastronomical Me:


"In a Hollywood 'bachelor' with a pull-down bed, or on a plane pointed any which way, or even in my own hollow house with death at my shoulder, I can protect myself with that same gastronomic liberty, and eat quietly, calmly, and with a special dignity."


What strikes me from these two scenes is that for Fisher feeding oneself and doing it well is a source of dignity, pride and a means by which to locate and claim herself.  It is an affirmation of her individual, unique, valuable selfhood and a refusal to be ashamed of nourishing that self (in this case with food, though at other times it is with literature, love, or travel).  She eats and drinks with a calm, quiet voluptuousness -- without shame and without hiding behind a PDA or magazine.  (While I too have "mastered" and even enjoy eating alone in public (and in private for that matter) I almost always have a book, magazine or laptop to keep me company.  I have not yet learned to eat in front of others without shame.)


For our aspiring chef, though food is fascinating, beautiful and he is proud of his ability to purchase and prepare expensive ingredients, the enjoyment of food eludes him.  Food is other, alien, dangerous and he feels shame in desiring it (just as he feels shame in many of his desires, whether they are for food, for love, or for the pursuit of activities that he enjoys just because he enjoys them).


It is my contention that our contemporary Western social values normalize and valorize the latter experience and condemn the former.  This condemnation arrives in subtle ways, from the inferior level of service many solo diners experience to the altering definition of words (i.e. voluptuous is not a synonym for fat; voluptuous is 'characterized by the giving of unrestrained pleasure to the senses'), and can be traced to several origins including the Puritan tradition here in the United States.  It has, however, taken on new meaning as our current model encourages the condemnation of all bodily driven sensual experiences while, simultaneously, fosters the commodification of our very definition of self.  The effect of these two messages is to communicate to the individual that he or she is weak for being aware of and succumbing the desires to feed one's mind, body and soul AND that social and personal visibility is only available through the desiring and possessing of commodities.  We preen before others and starve ourselves in shame.  

Don't Worry...I'm Not A Professional

Okay, so I love Nigella Lawson.  I love her accent.  I love her old-school Italian looks.  I love that she studied at Oxford.  I love that she uses the word "bolstering" in on-air 3 minute segments.  (I do not always love her recipes, but that in no way diminishes my desire to be her new best friend.)

I wanted to share this little interview because I think Nigella (if I may be permitted to be so familiar) hits it on the head when she talks about our fear of not being professionals.  While we are, as a country, running around trying to find the most common man to run for the highest office (President Obama aside, who is anything but your "Average Joe"), we are putting others on the expert pedestal who do not belong there.  We are so afraid of being exposed that we look for, and create, experts to follow.

As in other aspects of one's life, this act is disenfranchising.  It produces a fear in the individual that he or she doesn't know and in fact has no business doing what is most basic, most necessary, and at times, most intuitive (feeding oneself, raising children, making the bed, etc...).

And here is the best part:  WE DO IT TO OURSELVES.  We believe the "experts."  We do not call bulls**t.  We do not own that which is most basic to our survival.

Let us all be, in our personal lives, what Nigella refers to as passionate amateurs.  Let us, like MFK Fischer, learn about food and life and love through living openly, passionately, hungrily.

And, for heaven's sake, let us respect, not fear, expertise when it presents itself.  Right now we have it backwards:  We want experts in the kitchen and average Joes in the White House.  My New Years wish for us is that we right ourselves...that we eat and vote with eyes wide open!

Methyl Iodine

Not sure what to say about this. (Not because I have nothing to say- that does not happen-but because I am not sure how to organize my thoughts.)

I am worried for the farming communities exposed to toxins of all kinds and I want us, as a state and a country, to be moving away from the use of toxins (and genetically modified products) in our food production process.

I do not like Tokyo-based chemical brands potentially infecting migrant California workers because I do not see any hope in that equation for reparations or justice.

With our limited state budget, I think that the reliance on oversight as the primary means by which to control the unhealthy spread of this toxin is naive at best and dishonest at worst.

And I am concerned about the health ramifications of eating foods produced in soils treated by this toxin.  And because it can become airborne, I do not see a surefire method for completely avoiding the ingestion of it.

Bad job, California.  Bad job.