[5]By Cindy
National Corn Growers Association [6]
“In the last 50 years, generally speaking, people have become much more lax about their moral code concerning sex and much more restrictive about their moral code concerning food.” – Mary Eberstadt, author of “The Loser Letters” [7]
“The New Food Puritans” [8] is a fascinating article on a website I just found called “Truth in Food.” The post is great, but the full interview with author Mary Eberstadt is even better and well worth 22 minutes of your listening time. Besides being an author, Eberstadt is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and consulting editor to the Institution’s bimonthly Policy Review
The post and interview are based on an essay Eberstadt wrote last year called “Is Food the New Sex?” [9] which puts forth the premise that while modern society places no restrictions on sexual behaviors – anything goes because it is just “personal choice” – today’s new moralists are instead judgmental about the food choices people make. That is, we have mindless sex but mindful eating. “I find it really interesting that these two codes, one about food and one about sex, seem to be existing in this inverse relationship, where as one gets stricter the other gets more lenient,” she says in the interview.
Very interesting theory put forth by a very intelligent lady with strong conservative Christian values. There is some other great stuff on the “Truth in Food” website [10] worth a read – like “The Ten Reasons Why They Hate You So” [11] – They being the anti-production agriculture movement and You being – farmers. Be sure to read the comments on that one too – seemed to touch a pretty raw nerve with some folks! You can also find Truth in Food on Facebook [12]. Thanks to my friend Ray Bowman [13] with the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office [14] for pointing me in their direction!