Eat your Hearts Out

Consumption is a topic that I’ve discussed on this blog before. Consumption is an important topic here and now for several reasons. Firstly, because we are Westerners and Americans we are consumers so it is important to define our consumption niche. Companies court us with their advertisements every day to try to get us to consume their brand of goods. It’s nice to know what brands fit your own personal sense of culture and style so that, even if you are giving in to the consumer-commodity culture you are doing so intentionally and with a purpose. Secondly, consuming well is important to good health. If you consume too little you can become weak, meager, and dull. If you consume too much you can become corpulent, unhealthy, and physically and emotionally dependant on the materials you consume.

I was at a dinner party a few days ago and a friend mentioned that he was eating more than usual, that his appetite seemed insatiable in recent weeks. Several other people in the room commented that this was the case for them as well. It was postulated by the group that this increase in appetite coincided with the weather turning colder. We decided that, perhaps, everyone eats more in the winter. We all put on a protective layer of flubber for the winter months. Our holiday menus reflect this habit. Thanksgiving is full of fattening foods like pumpkin pies, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Christmas is also a fat man’s dream with lots of baked goods, cinnamon buns, and stocking stuffers filled with jelly beans, rolos, and other amazing, teeth rotting substances.

Perhaps this urge to pork out in the winter is embedded in our genetic code. It was the monkeys who were able to increase their caloric intake and put on a protective layer of fat that were able to survive the winter months. Those skinny, Paris Hilton-esque monkeys must have died off pretty quickly once the first frost hit. However, this might only apply to those who live in a climate that gets cold in the winter. Southern Californians are doomed to be tanned and thin all year round. You poor bastards.


Since I’m no longer a college student (well technically its been 11 months since I’ve been enrolled in school but I’m still basking in the afterglow god-dammit!). I’ve been trying to be a little more discriminating with my consumption patterns. It’s nice to have one’s own tastes and preferences and stick to them. My friend Wolf is a perfect example of someone who knows what he likes and sticks to it. He drinks Whiskey and smokes spliffs and rarely strays from those habits. I respect someone who doesn’t have the attitude that any commodity of any variety will suffice as long as it fills your stomach or gets you ‘fucked up.’

I try to drink good beer when I drink beer. Being in Oregon is great for this habit since we have such an amazing selection of microbrews. Along with drinking nice beer should come an increased knowledge of what one is drinking. I want to know what the difference between a port, lager, and a stout is. I’ve also bought a book on bartending and mixed drinks which I hope will inform me more about the world of spirits. Despite this I am still intimidated to order a mix drink at a bar unless I am sure exactly what it’s ingredients are.

Last week I went to a sake tasting and sampled several varieties of the drink which, this is news to me, is traditionally served cold. I would like to take some tours of distilleries and breweries in Portland if anyone elese is interested. Eventually I might even get around to food and cook a meal one of these days!

I think my musings about food and consumption have been motivated by my employemt in the food and hospitality industry. At Jake’s we serve some expensive and rarified foods such as salmon with dungeonesse crab, oysters on a half shell, pork belly with bean cassoulet, and crème anglais (fancy word for ice cream) with seasonal berries. As a server I get to sample all of it. Some of it is great and some of it isn’t. The people who have been serving at Jakes the longest complain about the food the most. “Not stuffed salmon again, I’m so sick of that.” When you consume a luxury almost every day it ceases to be a luxury and starts to be a chore.

I have analyzed my own pattern of consumption using the handy device that I call ‘my portable psycho-analyzer.’ I have noticed that I really enjoy giving myself what I like to call ‘treats.’ In Spanish the word for dessert is ‘postre.’ It has the word-root post meaning afterwords. I enjoy food or drink when I perceive it as an extra or as something in addition to the merely sufficient. Rarely do I eat dinner and then not think, “hmmm, what else can I enjoy?” Whether this be a beer, an ice cream, some chocolate, or a smoke depends on the night. I like the word postre and its accompanying connotations better than dessert. The word dessert makes me think of someone getting ‘their just desert’. It brings to mind the idea that we deserve dessert or that it is part of the ordinary, necessary, and sufficient. I prefer to think of it as living in beautiful excess. The postre is a sign of culture and a symbol of a life of leisure.