how to eat like a bird: a time to fast

Of all the articles in the food issue of The New Yorker, I am most captivated with the one about not eating. While Judith Thurman's time at the holistic fasting spa We Care is limited to three days and one colonic, the article goes beyond her personal experience and reminds us that not all fasting is about fad dieting embarked upon with foolish haste. Rather, human beings have fasted since biblical times (when everyone was skinny) and almost all major religions subscribe to a period of abstention associated with a time for introspection, atonement, and renewal.

Also, after a colonic a man once found a marble he had swallowed when he was five years old. Who knows the degree of crap inside us all?

I don't have thousands of dollars to live out my Magic Mountain fantasy. (The spa is a frequent stop for celebrities on the way to red carpet events, but, moreover, serves as a sanatorium in the desert for wealthy clients in need of detox who can stay for a month at a time). But I am in need of a fast. I'm not yet completely over my summer cold--after an unexpected chilly night, I can feel my throat close up and, more disastrously, suspect my taste buds are being muffled by layers of phlegm. I'm not quite as bad as David Sedaris, who admits in the same issue of The New Yorker that taste-wise he cannot tell the difference between an apricot and a peach. But I'm not enjoying my meals so much.

A friend and I dined at Perilla over the weekend. And while the famed spicy duck meatballs were even better than expected (delectably tender and juicy with a flavorful kick to them), I found the rest of the meal just okay. Very well done but a little boring. My friend loved her mussels in, I think, a green curry coconut sauce, but we both found her wolfish bland. Light and summery but not that flavorful. My skate with a pastrami and cabbage slaw was much better but I didn't clean my plate (the entree portions are pretty big) and don't feel the need to have it again. She really liked the slaw and while I thought pastrami was an inspired choice (usually people use bacon with skate), I would have preferred the cabbage braised to have a silky and sweet component against the crispy skate wing, and wished the whole thing which was tied together with a mustard sauce to be more mustardy. --But, see, maybe my palate is muffled or jaded. I am sure after a few days of fasting, everything will taste ambrosial.

As an aside, we did see the chef and winner of the first season of Top Chef, Harold Dieterle, slouched in a banquette talking to some people. He's a favorite for both of us and when you see someone you've seen on film or TV, you always note how different they seem in real life--she's a giant! or she's so petite! But Harold looks just the same. Maybe because he appeared in a reality show. The double chin he sometimes has is gone, but the grimace, the shrug is all the same, so that was rather endearing to see.

I'll outline the details of my fast later. --I'll be supplementing with some liquids and a lot of gazpacho so it won't be like I'm depriving myself of all sustenance. And I'm going to base the dates loosely to coincide with the upcoming Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year) and Yom Kippur (a day of atonement ten days after the new year.) I hope this is not heresy as I am not Jewish but thought it would make me feel better if a lot of other people were thinking introspectively, and well, repentantly, about their lives at or around the same time (as well as not eating on Yom Kippur). And after all, I am Korean and attended Catholic school. I read Ian McEwan. If I'm not already well versed with the ins and outs of atonement, I only have myself to blame.

But more on that later. First, there are some dinner plans to be met, produce to take advantage of before summer's end, and a small ham to be cooked in Coca-cola.

Comments

I would love to hear more about
your fast. I find that as a foodie with a young child it is impossible to diet, so a fast would probably be unattainable..yet still I am intrigued..

Posted by: izzy's mama | September 04, 2007 at 12:09 AM

I think if it is not too boring and monotonous, I will blog about it. And will probably start easing into it Sept. 12 or so. Right now I'm still researching the best way to do it so I can be healthy about it. --Am feeling rather blithe about the whole endeavor now, but do suspect that it will be harder than I forsee. After all I never really feel hungry now. Maybe for ten minutes, but then I'll get something to eat. If I had a child to take care of, I would definitely fast vicariously. Kids take so much energy. Have you noticed they always want something from you?

Posted by: Julie | September 04, 2007 at 12:54 AM