gross

 I'm perfectly comfortable with blood, guts, and that sort of thing. But when it comes to the food of simple Americans, I can be quite squeamish. There is nothing so horrible as things such as meatloaf, casserole, "hamburger helper," or lasagna. Add some steamed mixed frozen vegetables and I'm in Hell. I'll never forget the one horrible summer at camp in Wisconsin where I was served mac & cheese with pearl onions and pieces of boiled ham. 

In a tiny bookstore in central Illinois I discovered that this sort of horrible cuisine devoid of true flavor has been adapted for the low-carb lifestyle. I unfortunately neglected to record the name of this dread Necronomicon placed upon the dusty shelves of Jane Addam's of Champaign. But this recipe will live in my nightmares forever:

Busy Day Cake

1/3 cup coconut oil or butter. Hmm sounds OK...

1/3 cup soy protein isolate OH GOD 

2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten flour NOOOOO

1 cup ground almonds

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon SteviaPlus

6 packets sucralose

1/2 cup cream thickened with water

2 eggs 

vanilla extract

I won't record the exact specifications of this miserable recipe for fear of what innocent souls might encounter if the instructions were to be followed. The victim might think they were following a healthy diet because it is low in carbs and be mystified when they feel like crap and accidentally eat the whole thing despite a complete lack of true culinary virtue. Don't worry, paleos" are victims too. I once ate half a tray of "paleo" cupcakes. Baked goods of any sort are really not a good idea for anyone, no matter what they are made of. Reminds me of what I feel are the habits of highly ineffective dieters:

- Candy cigarettes: sorry "paleo cupcakes" are still cupcakes and are not healthy food

- Low quality food

- Foods of neolithic invention such as breaded and deep-fried foods. 

- Food that is engineered by food scientists to taste good. Be very suspicious of anything made in a lab. 

- Liquid calories. 

- insipid food. I part ways with Stephan here in that I don't think blandness is key. I think very bland food is very satiating, but so is very complex food with many spices, fermented sauces, bitter and unusual flavors. 

I think the meal Chris and I had after we went to the bookstore illustrates this. Portions were very small at Bacaro, but we left satisfied. Flavors like black truffle in risotto, liver-based sauces, and olive oil gelato walk the line between grotesque and delicious that puts you in a state of culinary satisfaction without incitement to overeat. 

We also had an incredible lunch at Blackbird in Chicago. The portions here were also very small, but the flavors were unlike anything I'd ever had. Smoked ham hock with sturgeon, lamb with lavendar and broccoli, and licorice root for example. My new goal is not to eat out unless it's something really good like this. 

Perhaps this jives with Seth Robert's set-point theory: 

3.6.2. Birth of the idea. In June 2000, I visited Paris. The food was excellent. I wanted to eat three meals per day but to my surprise and disappointment I had little appetite, even though I felt fine and was walking a lot. I realized that the new weight-control theory suggested an explanation: It had been hot and I had drunk two or three sucrose-sweetened soft drinks each day, about 630 kJ (150 kcal) each. All of them had been new to me because they were brands not available at home. The novelty meant that their flavors were not yet associated with calories and therefore would not have raised my set point. They had been sweet, of course, a familiar flavor that presumably was associated with calories. But maybe sweetness was effectively a weak flavor, I thought, and what I had observed was another instance, similar to Example 9 (sushi), of bland food reducing the set point.

 

My weight loss definitely coincides with my growing interest in complex flavors. Of course it's very possible to get fat on Haute Cuisine; there are plenty of expensive restaurants serving baskets of bread and fried cheese balls (maybe a fancy cheese, but still very stimulating to the appetite).