Giovanna Garzoni

IN a health food supermarket the other day, I noticed in front of me in the check-out line a woman with a huge assortment of of organic vegetables and fruits. There were turnips and sweet potatoes and apples and avocados, to mention a few, each one picked out separately. Everything was blameless. There was not a single transgression against healthy eating. The woman was very thin and spent more than $170. She looked to be in her late fifties, so it was unlikely she was feeding a whole family. And yet there was one jar of baby food — mashed, organic carrots. Perhaps that was for some vegetarian elixir, a magical potion that when mixed with other virtuously-produced vegetables and fruits could extend life indefinitely.

Two days later, I had breakfast in a diner — one of those highway restaurants where each plate of food would be enough to feed four people in bygone years. The chicken and waffles came with a mountain of sizzling, fried drumsticks. Most of the items on the menu would supply half the recommended daily calories for a grown adult. One adorable boy sat before his huge platter of eggs and potatoes. He was about eight and he looked happy, very happy. He was also seriously over-weight. A couple who had eaten got up to leave as we were waiting for our food. They were wearing tent-like T-shirts and sweatpants. What else could they wear? They were each close to 300 pounds and they struggled to walk. They looked like slow-moving human trucks.

The health-conscious and the health-unconscious. For one, the body is a temple to fitness. For the other, it’s a kind of trash heap.

I’ll take the fat couple over the ascetic. The waddlers are probably secretly ashamed. I doubt it has ever occurred to the consumer of edible jewels that she might be a glutton too.

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