Again this week friends of the blog are out there scouring the online world for me (and you) to find the helpful, the disturbing and the downright weird in food/health writing.
First up, you’ve probably heard of this Steve Jobs fellow. I’d like to tell you I’m writing this on one of his machines, but I’d be lying, because they’re wicked expensive. As a disclaimer, let me be clear that he was brilliant. Inspiring in many ways. A true visionary. But let’s face it: Ol’ boy was odd. So it’s not exactly a surprise to me that he had some … different … gustatory customs.
It’s been fairly widely reported, even during his lifetime, that Jobs was a pescetarian – not quite vegetarian, but no land animals, just fish. Nothing strange about that. But that’s not the end of the story.
This article, reviewing Walter Isaacson’s authorized Steve Jobs bio, pulls back the kitchen curtain on one strange eater. Isaacson tell us (and keep in mind, this is an authorized biography) Jobs fasted – often – eating only one food (carrots were a favorite) for weeks at a time. He ate so many carrots he apparently proved the old story that if you eat too many carrots you turn orange. And I am not making this up.
“He would spend weeks eating the same thing—carrot salad with lemon, or just apples—and then suddenly spurn that food and declare that he had stopped eating it. He would go on fasts, just as he did as a teenager, and he became sanctimonious as he lectured others at the table on the virtues of whatever regimen he was following.”
“A friend told Isaacson, ‘There is a story about Steve turning orange from eating so many carrots, and there is some truth to that.’ As Jobs says, ‘Friends remember him having, at times, a sunset-like orange hue.'”
Go read the article. Again, brilliant man, serious food issues. Maybe it fueled his genius. Or maybe if he’d eaten a steak now and then he could have ruled the world.
Heard enough about Steve Jobs the past couple of weeks? Hey, it’s county fair season! People eat … strange things … at the fair. Take, for instance, elephant ears. You shouldn’t eat those. And they don’t actually taste good. Cotton candy. It’s, umm, what’s the word? Oh, yeah, vile. And a hell of a big mess. Don’t eat that stuff either.
Slate.com did us the favor of rounding up a doughnut-box full of, as they put it, “freaky fare” From the fair. Kool-Aid pickles? Cheeseburger with Fried Ice-Cream? Fried beer? FRIED BUTTER?!?! Do I need to tell you to stay away from this stuff?
I know. It’s the fair. Sometimes you can’t help yourself. Me either. Do be careful about riding the Yo-Yo after loading up on fried jelly beans.
Thanks for reading, friends. I’m off to enjoy a sensible salad. Without carrots or pickle pops.
Skipping Dessert 