Cousins, food and the world.


 From FaceBook
 
My Staten Island, N.Y.  cousin, Michael Altini writes:  “I love eating. If the food is not up to spec, I get very angry, pay and leave. I know I can make half the stuff better”
My Bristol, U.K cousin, Chris Finch writes : “Diet News - Day 21. Half a pound down takes me 2 away from my target in 3 days . Who's that skinny guy in the mirror?”

From me:
1.      Hey Michael, I am with you.  I rarely get truly excited about restaurant food.  It is so often either poorly cooked and presented, or over-priced.  I much prefer my home cooked foods – e.g. the roasted parsnips, carrots, onions, and peppers which I just scoffed down.

2.      Hey Chris, I am with you, but I have taken a slower route.  Back in January I saw a 203 lbs (14+ stone) person in the mirror.  Today that mirror shows a 158 lbs (11+ stone) Michael Povey.  I have lost about 3 stones (say 42 lbs).  I love the slimmer me.

My route to “slimnitude” has been (a) exercise (I walk about 5 miles each day, thanks to my dog!); 

and (b) diet (no snacks, very little red meat, and lots of fruit, fish and vegetables).


To all    

This business of food and diet is very much a western privilege.  We cannot talk about the foods we enjoy, and the lbs we have lost without also thinking about the billions of humans whose diet is subsistence, or less.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shoe insults

Last year I consulted with a local podiatrist: Dr. Robert F Herbold Jr. D.P.M. 4717 Swift Rd., Sarasota , FL – 34231  because I was being bothered with a couple of bunions  (yes I am at that age). I was very impressed with this Doctor.  He agreed that I had bunions, but he ventured that it was much too soon for surgery. (Now there’s a first). Instead he recommended some “arch supports” to relieve the tension for my feet, a tension which was exacerbating the bunions. What’s more -  he told me that he sells these arch supports at the miserly sum of $2.50 each (about 1/5 of the price in the local pharmacies). He is an honest man, and I recommend him to anyone with foot problems. So, a couple of weeks ago, having purchased some new walking shoes, I knew that I needed to buy a couple of new arch supports I took myself to his office. Once there, my mind went blank. I wanted to ask his front desk Clerk if I could buy some “shoe inserts” , as I could not rem...
Read more

It began in Bristol U.K. "A man dies" and "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Image
I well remember the swirling controversy in Bristol, U.K. when a (Presbyterian) Minister the Revd, Earnest Marviin created a ":Rock Opera", called "A Man Dies"  in and for his congregation in the Lockleaze area of Bristol, U.K. Earnest Mrvin I was a sixteen years old member of the Plymouth Brethren Church back in those days, so I most likely disapproved of "A Man Dies" .  We, (the Plymouth Brethren),  disapproved of everything! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had forgotten all about "A Man Dies" until earlier today when saw these pictures on the "Bristol, Then and Now"  Facebook page.   St. James Presbyterian Church, Lockleaze, Bristol  The Bristol Then and Now page includes the following commentary: Lockleaze, Bristol  -  'Jesus Christ Superstar' began at St.James (Presbyterian) Chur...
Read more

The background, the couple, my friends, the wedding ceremony, the Shaykh, the Priest,

Image
The background   I have known the Keller/Bonsey family since 2000 when I became the Rector at St. James's, Cambridge, MA. They (Elisabeth Keller and the Revd. Steven Bonsey with their four children Noah, Sam, Josiah and Annie) had come back to Cambridge from Hawaii where Steve had been the Rector of an Episcopal parish. Steve had just been appointed as a Chaplain at Tufts University (no Sunday morning duties) so the entire family was able to enrich our common life at St. James's - which they did with great love and joy. I count them as friends and have stayed in touch with them since my retirement.  Noah, the oldest son is eloquent in Arabic (he spent a year in Damascus when Syria was a safe place).  He has developed a super career as an analyst of social media in the near East.    Noah worked in Tampa for a while a few years ago, so he and I were a...
Read more