tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post8678303426249601949..comments2024-03-12T22:31:46.500-04:00Comments on What Would Phoebe Do?: Eternal youthPhoebe Maltz Bovyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-55748734152909342762011-08-19T12:51:37.553-04:002011-08-19T12:51:37.553-04:00Also! What's annoying, if less in the post its...Also! What's annoying, if less in the post itself than in what it implies, what commenters get from it, and putting it together with things Doré has said elsewhere, is the idea that it's perfectly reasonable to a) celebrate smoking 12 cigarettes with lunch, and b) get all worked-up about the health consequences of trace amounts of whatever in your food. While it's not my own approach, I get where people are coming from who say they want to get the most pleasure out of life (often by embracing some preconceived idea of what it is to be French/European), even if that means risking consequences later. And women whose #1 priority is being skinny... I'd categorize them alongside ex-gays, as in, seems idiotic and sets a bad example but you can't tell others what will make them happy. But Doré <a href="http://jezebel.com/5521186/plus+size-models-slammed-by-prominent-french-blogger" rel="nofollow">likes to</a> claim she's concerned with health being promoted by the fashion industry. It's like she has to be on all trendy bandwagons simultaneously - skinny jeans come first! no, of-the-moment health panics! Meh.Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-80955194614662183432011-08-18T11:12:35.757-04:002011-08-18T11:12:35.757-04:00Indeed. But it goes beyond Europe, even. Doré'...Indeed. But it goes beyond Europe, even. Doré's comment about an Australian woman saying NYC made her fat took this to a new level. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_Australia" rel="nofollow">Really?</a> That's why there almost seemed to be hope in her post - finally, someone acknowledging that America isn't a monolith! But apparently even fashion-y dining in NY, insofar as it's still within the U.S., causes the immediate gaining of 10 lbs.Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-64745170419385018122011-08-18T09:36:01.310-04:002011-08-18T09:36:01.310-04:00Britta,
True enough - there's a big part of E...Britta,<br /><br />True enough - there's a big part of Europe that's very meat-and-potatoes, cuisine-wise, but that somehow gets conflated in the popular imagination with Paris and Milan, because, Europe. That cuisine, too, then comes to be held to have magic powers, because at least it's traditional/homemade/European. When in fact, even without high-fructose corn syrup, enough fries, chocolates, and sausages will do the trick.<br /><br />"I think it's the fact that I am a Westerner but not morbidly obese that throws people off."<br /><br />Huh. Something like this is true in Paris, where being small (especially if "small" also includes short) makes it easier to blend in, or at least not to announce by your very presence your nation of origin. But there's <i>also</i> the phenomenon of Americans insisting that everyone they see abroad is so, so skinny, when in fact, if you're coming from NY or LA, depending where you go in Europe, people may be a whole lot larger.Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-40476598804374026602011-08-18T08:36:17.507-04:002011-08-18T08:36:17.507-04:00Oh, reading some of the comments, I like how peopl...Oh, reading some of the comments, I like how people from places where the food is (so I've heard) legitimately much worse than the US (England, Russia) chiming in as well, about how, when they eat "healthy, normal" food at home, they stay effortlessly thin, but 2 minutes in NY or LA makes them fat. I just want to be like, "yeah, England, the country that invented the french fry sandwich" the epitome of healthy food. (I had a British roommate who wouldn't eat American peas because he claimed they were "too green.")<br /><br />I don't really know about NY or Paris skinny, but at least in Beijing there is affirmative action for foreigners when it comes to being skinny. Despite being relatively less skinny in Beijing than in Chicago, Chinese people everywhere are bowled over by how "thin" I am. If I were Chinese though, I'd probably be told to lose a few. I think it's the fact that I am a Westerner but not morbidly obese that throws people off. It's one of those things that's both simultaneously flattering and insulting about living in China, kind of like people being perpetually <i>amazed</i> that I can, after a mere, oh, 8 years of study, speak Mandarin.Brittahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02224221011978374915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-42654890938194785712011-08-17T23:26:36.567-04:002011-08-17T23:26:36.567-04:00From an ethical standpoint, it perhaps does make s...From an ethical standpoint, it perhaps does make sense to avoid factory-farmed meat even for occasional consumption. And yes, if you're eating anywhere remotely yuppie, you're eating food that's been certified like crazy. (Sort of like how every nail polish now declares itself free of the same chemicals, leading one to wonder if any still do contain said chemicals.) But in terms of it doing screwy things to one's body? Do we really think that in the quantity a weight-conscious fashion writer is likely consuming meat/dairy, with or without hormones would make a drop of difference? That's why I think your analogy makes sense - it's easier to blame American cuisine than one's own refusal to see that there are options beyond waffles and fries. (Of course, as an American married to a Belgian, I'm all in favor of waffles and fries, but maybe as breakfast and a small side dish, respectively.)Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-42816579550269879292011-08-17T22:04:55.425-04:002011-08-17T22:04:55.425-04:00Actually, what annoyed me the most was blaming hor...Actually, what annoyed me the most was blaming hormones for her weight gain. I agree that factory farming in the US is really awful, but plenty of people are aware of that and make an effort to only consume hormone free milk/eggs/meat, including, my guess is, the restaurants she frequents in NY. She would have to be willfully blind to miss all the locavore/organic stuff sweeping UMC/UC America right now.<br /><br />It also kind of reminds me of some Chinese-American friends I had in college, who I swear, for every meal ate either fried chicken strips, waffle fries, and corn, or waffles with ice cream and then complained about how "American food" made them fat, not like the Chinese food they ate at home.Brittahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02224221011978374915noreply@blogger.com