tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post112707607523110664..comments2024-03-27T07:18:39.229-05:00Comments on In Medias Res: The Fat of the LandUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-1127845067141574382005-09-27T13:17:00.000-05:002005-09-27T13:17:00.000-05:00David, that's a good point. It kind of fits with t...David, that's a good point. It kind of fits with the discussion of gluttony that I posted at Times and Seasons as a complement to this one--the point being, "gluttony" isn't about one's girth, per se, but about how one approaches food and drink and the pleasure of the earth. Are you exclusive or abusive in the way you consume things (for instance, do you demand that your environment supply you with whatever you want, whenever you want it, expense and environmental damage be damned)? Or do you genuinely appreciate the bounty of things for what they are? Of course, originally there was a clear Christian cast to this argument, but the principle can be expressed in secular terms as well. A lot of the best restaurants understand this; they understand the damage which the gluttony that fast food represents, and they want to get away from it, by re-emphasizing the fresh, the local, the subtle. At least, that's the conclusion I came to after having thought about <A HREF="http://inmedias.blogspot.com/2005/03/my-dinner-at-charlies-simplicity-part.html" REL="nofollow">my meal at Charlie Trotter's</A>  for a long time. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://inmedias.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="ra-fox at wiu dot edu">Russell Arben Fox</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-1127748722856537532005-09-26T10:32:00.000-05:002005-09-26T10:32:00.000-05:00Maybe it is just Philly, but the "fancy" resturant...Maybe it is just Philly, but the "fancy" resturants here like Fork and White Dog have been leaders in the slow food, sustainable agriculture, and equitable food distribution movements (the latter tries to ensure that healthy, fresh food is available in all neighborhoods of the city, not just the rich ones. When I eat out, I'm not thumbing my nose at the red states, I'm sticking it to a guy who wants to turn another working family farm into a sprawl subdivision.  <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://inmedias.blogspot.com/2005/09/fat-of-land.html#comments" REL="nofollow" TITLE="dsalmanson at springside dot org">David Salmanson</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-1127521059894157662005-09-23T19:17:00.000-05:002005-09-23T19:17:00.000-05:00Adam,I've never been to Maine, but I don't you're ...Adam,<BR/><BR/>I've never been to Maine, but I don't you're right. There are likely many groups of people throughout America that content themselves with a slower pace of life, tied to more local concerns and means of production. (And thanks for the link recommendation--I'm not at all a libertarian, yet Kevin Carson's blog really touches on a lot of vital subjects, some that I probably need to learn a good deal more about.)<BR/><BR/>Lee,<BR/><BR/>Thanks, as always, for the excellent comment. I'm a huge fan of Lasch, and you're right that his analysis of the difference between "hope" and "optimism" are quite relevant here. I think there's something very true to the idea that one can only be "hopeful" in connection to a world of grounded possibilities, whereas if all options are theoretically open (you can do anything you want with your body!) then all you've got are either mindless nostrums about "progress" vs. complete despair. The more humble diet that you and your wife have adopted is a good example of that--you find joy in working with what you have (these limits, stuff available in this season), rather than making joy contingent upon whatever kinds of "havings" you can plausibly achieve. The Caelem et Terra folks talk about this a lot. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://inmedias.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="ra-fox at wiu dot edu">Russell Arben Fox</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-1127497247452402932005-09-23T12:40:00.000-05:002005-09-23T12:40:00.000-05:00Lots of food for thought (pardon the pun) here. I ...Lots of food for thought (pardon the pun) here. I was recently re-reading part of Christopher Lasch's <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393307956/qid=1127497009/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-0630984-4981454?v=glance&s=books&n=507846" REL="nofollow">True and Only Heaven</A>  and was struck by how he contrasts the ethos of the American elite - cosmopolitan, restless, mobile, ambitious, workaholic - with the ethos of the working and lower-middle class, which focuses more on values like solidarity, community and a sense of limits. He contrasts progressivist "optimism," which thinks that every day, every way things are getting better (or would if the right people were in charge), with the more chastened value of "hope" - which affirms the goodness of being in spite of its limitations and disappointments.<BR/><BR/>Lasch, as you no doubt know, thought that the environmental situation, among other things, called for a return to a kind of "ethic of limits" and a turn away from the view that we can live in a world of limitless material progress and increased consumption for all (in fact, I think the author of the Spiked article you linked to mentioned Lasch, but failed to grapple with his argument). <BR/><BR/>On a more personal note, my wife and I became "demi"-vegetarians almost two years ago from a mixture of ethical, environmental and health reasons. And I've noticed that as a result of that decision we've been forced to pay more attention to the food we eat and we're more likely to stay at home preparing a meal made from wholesome ingredients than to go out to a fancy restaurant (eating out, I've noticed, is one of the acceptable forms of conspicious consumption among relatively affluent yet otherwise "enlightened" liberal folk - another way of proving one's superiority to the red-state masses perhaps?).<BR/><BR/>Another thought is that traditionally religious folk have all but abandoned any sense of asceticism. I'm not talking about the relentless punishment of the self (which seems to characterize many in the professional classes with their "work hard, play hard" lifestyle), but rather a sense of the rythyms of fast and feast that were long a part of Christian culture (and which, I suspect, find their analogues in other traditions). I wonder if that might be part of recovering a saner lifestyle? <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://www.verbumipsum.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="verbumipsum at hotmail dot com">Lee</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-1127453173096420182005-09-23T00:26:00.000-05:002005-09-23T00:26:00.000-05:00adsf Posted by Anonymousadsf <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>AnonymousAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-1127437701114330302005-09-22T20:08:00.000-05:002005-09-22T20:08:00.000-05:00Wow, that's quite a lot of thought (I haven't read...Wow, that's quite a lot of thought (I haven't read the "extra" yet, but I may).<BR/><BR/>Anyway, in addition to the Amish, other non-elite groups in America are also uncomfortable with the "work-hard/play-hard" mindset of cosmopolitian America. I'm thinking of small-town Maine, for example.<BR/><BR/>Otherwise, you may be interested in the <A HREF="http://mutualist.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">Mutualist Blog</A> . The author, Kevin Carson, focuses a lot on our economic organization, the role of the state in that organization, and how we think of our selves to fit into that system. I think you'd appreciate some of the stuff he writes. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://e-vigilance.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="adamr1 at for-pgh dot org">Adam</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com