2009/10/17 Dublin
[ Previous ]   [ Next ]

Labor-intensive

Crust

Read here one of the strangest article I’ve read in weeks.
ZZ Packer writes in today’s Herald Tribune: “I will let myself eat whatever French fries happen to touch my hamburger, but the ones that don’t touch the burger are off limits. I can eat one-half of a hamburger bun, but not the other. I can order a pizza, but I can only eat the toppings, not the dough (though I can eat the crust, but not the part my fingers have touched).
So as a result my plate often looks like something a toddler picked over, or the food version of a war-torn country — all meals turned inside out, innards exposed. But it’s the way I eat. And as labor-intensive as it is, it beats having to exercise.”

I won’t ask Ms. Packer out for dinner. If that’s the way she eats I will join her for dinner when she is done eating.


[ Add comment ]
17 comments Last_comment
I wonder how much time she needs for a meal.
said Sasja Mirskikh 18/10/2009 01:26 • x
Taking your time
She must indeed be very particular about her food!
She must have an obsessive–compulsive disorder of some kind!
Nosophobia, I guess.
Or she has read too many books by food-gurus.
said bert hesper 18/10/2009 01:38 • x
@Bert: She's just an ordinary woman trying to lose weight, but instead of strictly following the rules of the Atkins diet, she gave her own twist to these rules. So it's still an ordinary woman...
said Z! _ 18/10/2009 08:05 • x
Z!
If she gives such a weird twist to a diet, can you still call her ordinary?
said Sasja Mirskikh 18/10/2009 11:46 • x
I don't think she has an obsessive-compulsive disorder. I'm no doctor, but I think she's just stubborn. In the article Arnon read she explains she give these weird twists because she simply can't resist going to restaurants, but still want to keep losing weight by following the Atkins diet.
Yes, these are weird rules, but that doesn't make her special. She just needs a reality check.
said Z! _ 18/10/2009 15:13 • x
Arnon
What do meals mean to you? How important is an aesthetic surrounding or company? Do you ever sit down on your sofa with just a slice of bread and butter and a cup of tea?
said Juliane B. 18/10/2009 16:04 • x
Juliane
I never sit down on my sofa with a slice of bread and a cup of tea.
said Arnon Grunberg 18/10/2009 17:54 • x
Arnon
Why not?
said Juliane B. 18/10/2009 18:03 • x
Juliane
I like to go out for food.
said Arnon Grunberg 18/10/2009 18:17 • x
Arnon
And you don't sit at home and do nothing for a while, either? Or get bored?
said Juliane B. 18/10/2009 18:27 • x
Juliane
No darling. Thinking of you is not doing nothing.
said Arnon Grunberg 18/10/2009 18:55 • x
Arnon
I hereby sincerely apologize for having imagined you gazing dreamily out of the window thinking about a girl and due to this having bursted out laughing.
said Juliane B. 18/10/2009 19:08 • x
Juliane
Why apologize?
said Arnon Grunberg 18/10/2009 19:21 • x
Arnon
Seems like a justified case of auto-misantropy to me.
said Poessie Mao 18/10/2009 19:34 (Updated 19:34) • x
The facing page had an article about people living in the Russian "company towns," where factories have closed and there are no more jobs. They talked about foraging for roots, leaves, and grass. After reading this I could not deal with ZZ Packer's food obsessions.
said Vilde Khaya 19/10/2009 01:48 • x
Arnon / Poessie Mao
@ Arnon
It's not very flattering to be seen like some kind of teenage boy including heaving sighs et cetera, is it? Being the victim of others' fantasies is not everybody's cup of tea. Most people pull a face if I imagine similar things about them. I guess they feel exposed or even raped. But you're probably right, the scene can be very aesthetic/sophisticated/sexy, as well, with a grown-up you.

@ Poessie Mao
I don't hate myself. Never did. And what do you mean by „justified“?
said Juliane B. 19/10/2009 10:17 • x
Vilde
Together the articles are even more poignant.
said Arnon Grunberg 19/10/2009 10:17 • x
[ Add comment ]