The Epicurean Point of View

I placed the last piece of succulent chocolate cake in my mouth. The rich choco cream adorned my lips while I munched on the glorious last bite. It’s kind of disappointing when you reach the last bite; you wish for just that “little” more. The waiter approached me with some more tempting offers on the menu. Together, they tried to seduce me to have another go. I fought my urge to devour yet another pastry, paid the bill and gave an admonishing look to the perplexed waiter. On my way home, I saw a hoarding which screamed out details of a beauty clinic offering excellent weight reduction therapies. I had a surge of nausea; the cake was twirling in my stomach out of guilt. I pacified my conscience with the greatest difficulty and set about my routine work.

I have this habit of reading a book at bedtime. So, presently I sat at my reading table and picked up a book at random from the book shelf. It was already 11:30pm and very promptly I hear my mom’s voice asking me to go to bed. So, I switched the light off and settled down with the book and torchlight under the covers. (If you are wondering what makes me so particular about reading a book, well…I’m clueless). So, now, this book turns out to be on gluttony..

*The conscience sighs, there we go again*

The author of this book, Francine Prose, has a very unique stand on gluttony, which I must confess was a tad comforting. The holy religion of Christianity describes gluttony to be one among the seven deadly sins that the human soul could succumb to. To start off, it describes gluttony to be an excessive greed for food and drink and the reason they classify gluttony as a sin is because it acts as a stepping stone to the other sins as lust, sloth. Surely, the McDonalds, and the other pizzas and burger joints don’t go for the Sunday mass. It was this greed that compelled Adam to eat the apple on the forbidden tree. If he had not done so, all of us would be roaming around naked appreciating the beauty of the Garden of Eden…Well, in a way I’m glad he ate the apple….

At this point I would like to quote the author, who has mixed comedy and a dash of cynicism to elevate the spirits of “gluttons” like us.

“The traditional solutions to the problem of gluttony and lust, has been to suggest that the element of sin enters in only when we allow ourselves to relax and enjoy satisfying the needs of the body. We are allowed to eat and have sex as long as we don’t like it.”

The gurus of Christianity fight for their stand by examples and illustrations from history- the three drunkards of Flanders who went to combat death in their drunken stupor, Cyclpos – the one eyed monster being too drunk was slow-witted for Odesseys and his men. They are true to an extent. But, I believe in the concept of amending definitions and bending rules slightly to suit the changing times. Well, in today’s context, the inability to control the desire to have a second or maybe even a third helping of a cream pie, is not actually the punishable sins, where you would be boiled in the hot oils of hell ( I don’t mind going to hell after making this statement). I’m not preaching to overindulge in eating, neither am I professing an extravagant seven course meal. Being an epicurean is not a sin, infact I think it’s boon where you have the taste to appreciate the variety of cuisine in the world and also be thankful to those hands which rose to feed you, be it the chef of a multistar hotel or your mom. Getting the very opportunity to eat is a boon as there are some unfortunate ones in this world who are deprived of this basic necessity.

I would also like to add a pinch of salt to the simmering soup, “excess of anything is not good”…

So, don’t count the calories before you eat that chocolate cake. Eat on!! The threadmill is always there when you finally decide to shed off those extra pounds.
Ciao. Now it’s really late and I can sleep, as my conscience is at peace.


“Eat, drink and enjoy today for who knows from tomorrow I might be on a diet.”- Garfield, The Lord of the Epicurean Clan.