To eat or not to eat, that is the question.
Tonight I’m part of the Absolute Writers’ Blogchain again. Last time everyone was talking about pets, as you’ll probably remember. I remember because we all ended up talking about eating strange animals, which was mostly my fault. (I need to put some work in and convince everyone that I’m a gentle and unassuming soul, don’t I? Which reminds me, you might want to take a look at the conflux guest list.)
This time the writer before me was Colby Marshall. I ought to be really grateful, because the newest post on Colby’s blog was about cockroaches and I do not really want to even think about cockroaches served on a plate for culinary delectation. If anyone has eaten a cockroach, I’d be very happy to hear all about it, though. I’m generous that way.
Colby wrote about dance and writing and how even a week without is an eternity. The most I’ve been without food is three days, and the first 36 hours are tough, and then it gets better. This got me to thinking about fasts. Ramadan is a civilised fast (unless it occurs in summer, when the no drinking during daylight hours is worse than the no eating, by a long shot). Judaism has one day fasts.
My favourite fasts though, are Christian Medieval. They’re the sort of fasts that one can get fat on. Fasts not counted by calorie, but by avoidance of certain foods. When I discovered this as an undergraduate and reported enthusiastically to my mother, she worried I was going to convert. Then I told her about the Papal Schism and she felt a bit more reassured. Then I had a Catholic boyfriend and she was de-reassured again. Then I told her that most Christian fasts involved fish and she stopped worrying about me for months. You see, the fast days were the big fish days in the Medieval calendar, and I’m fatally allergic to fish.
Give Fantastical Imagination a day or so, but make sure you visit. Otherwise you may never know where the chain takes allergies, fasts, perplexed parents and the Great Schism. Also, you might want to read the earlier posts, so here’s a list:
Spittin’ (out words) Like a Llama
April 11th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Your blog never fails to be interesting… especially in the chain.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Oh, fasts and I would not get along. I’m too big into eating
April 13th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I know a thing or two about allergies but I’d certainly starve on a fish fast (say that one five times fast). I just don’t like the buggers.
April 13th, 2008 at 9:20 am
[...] Gillian, the food lady that went before me, talked about fasts and fish allergies. I’m still trying to figure out how that relates to the theme of the chain, new beginnings, but I guess it relates back to rebooting which was talked about a few links back. To fast is to deny yourself something for an extended period of time then gorge once you can have it again. You purge (reboot) and gorge (repeat the vicious cycle). At least that’s my view of it, hence children giving up candy and swallowing whole Cadbury Creme Eggs on Easter. It makes sense. [...]
April 15th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Fasts intrique me. I like the idea but I’m not sure I could do it. I have given up eating scores of food categories but food, in general? I don’t like to be hungry. I gues it’s mind over matter, huh?
April 18th, 2008 at 7:49 am
I don’t think my cockroach would forgive me if I ate cockroaches. I lose weight quickly, so fasting would be a bad idea.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:12 pm
[...] addressed the process of beginning a novel, learning 3d design, rebooting your life, taking breaks, fasting, spring allergies, the wonders of Zyrtec, moving, new beginnings in one’s sex life, and blogging. [...]
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:00 am
The only fasting I’ve ever done was when I got divorced. It was mostly prompted by stress and depression. I love fresh fruits and veggies, so maybe I could go on a fast where I didn’t eat any meat?
May 1st, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I don’t fast on purpose, but sometimes I’m busy and forget to eat for one or two days.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
[...] Gillian, the food lady that went before me, talked about fasts and fish allergies. I’m still trying to figure out how that relates to the theme of the chain, new beginnings, but I guess it relates back to rebooting which was talked about a few links back. To fast is to deny yourself something for an extended period of time then gorge once you can have it again. You purge (reboot) and gorge (repeat the vicious cycle). At least that’s my view of it, hence children giving up candy and swallowing whole Cadbury Creme Eggs on Easter. It makes sense. [...]