I Think, Therefore I Don't Eat

by Mark R. Vogel

I find it a glorious tribute to the diversity of human irrationality, that each food constituent has advocates and enemies. Yet all three are required for normal bodily functioning. We need a balanced diet as much as we need to be mentally balanced.

People also tend to draw erroneous conclusions about foods that are foreign to them. Strange foods are often assumed to be inferior or distasteful. One day my parents were coming over for dinner.

I wanted to make Caesar salad and asked my dad if he liked romaine lettuce. He firmly asserted that he "only likes iceberg lettuce." Nevertheless I made a traditional Caesar salad with romaine and served it to him, (he doesn't know which lettuce is which). He wolfed down his entire bowl of salad with obvious delight and then proceeded to commend me for it.

The reality of the situation, (the actual lettuce), had nothing to do with his initial resistance. His "concept" of romaine lettuce is what got in the way. By bypassing his thinking, I was able to determine whether he had a genuine distaste for romaine, which obviously he didn't.

Some folks are paranoid about contaminants in their food, i.e., bacteria, antibiotics, insecticides, etc. Let me say right off the bat that these are real concerns. However, I'm referring to the people whose thinking grossly exaggerates the danger or has no basis at all.

Let's take egg phobia, specifically the thinking that eggs not fully cooked, (such as eggs over easy), are dangerous because of salmonella. According to the US Department of Agriculture, one in 20,000 eggs is contaminated with salmonella.

If you're an average American and consume 180 eggs per year, it will take you 111 years to encounter a contaminated egg. But not all the eggs we eat are raw or partially cooked.