Eat a little something

I am commitment phobic only as an eater. Despite the most imploring waiters trying to seduce with today's most special special or catchiest catch, I would rather have three appetizers or five bites from someone else's plate. This drives my friends and lovers crazy. It's amazing how possessive some people are about their food.

So, it was a wonderful affirmation of near Oprah proportions to read the New York Times' story on the death of the entree. (for a full bite of the real thing: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/dining/05entr.html) The rationale? Too many bites of one substance is just too....boring. Now, those of us raised to feel guilty for all the starving children in countries denied the luxury of grey beef and over-cooked vegetables will certainly suffer an anxiety attack at the thought that decent food is "boring" but that is what makes one newspaper a courageous truth-teller while others are merely earnest.

" “As a diner, the idea of me chewing 17 bites of one thing and another 17 bites of another is absolutely boring, and not how I want to eat,” said the chef Mario Batali." Can you get over that? How ballsy!

But the thing is, and it has been the thing for a while, it's far more fun to taste a lot of things than to settle on just one choice. I don't know what your excuse is but it is sheer ADD on my part. I can't actually decide or focus on WHICH kind of shrimp I want, or whether the lamb dumplings are preferable to the crab. Let's get them all.

When you think about it, this is more suited to our lifestyle than the plate of protein with a side of starch our parents and grandparents felt was their due. We are not ploughing fields. We are not hammering nails. We barely need more than a bite in order to keep all functions functioning. That we want to spend that bite or two wisely, to make it an experience, is in its own way practical. Eating is not mandatory in the way it was for toilers and hewers, it is now a social experience. Don't skimp on it.