Puritanical attitude towards food?

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F_Marturana said:
I remember having to explain why my tuna sandwich was ok to eat for Lent. It was oil packed tuna on ciabatta bread, with some arugula.
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During Lent? I hope the bread was stale and the arugula was wilting. 🧐
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Calvinism views mankind as utterly depraved.
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Calvinists believe people can’t naturally reach out to God without His intervention. That’s what depraved means in a theological context.
 
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I think some people, Catholics and Protestants, read about various saints who abstained from all food except the Eucharist, and somehow get the idea that regular food is somehow “tainted” with “worldliness/sin”.

Back in the late 1970s, when my husband and I got married, the “Simple Lifestyle” swept through the Protestant churches. The Lausanne Movement is remembered as a time/place when Protestant ministers and missionaries took a “Simple Lifestyle” pledge.

I think that this was basically a good thing, and right in step with the current trend towards eating locally-grown and prepared food, and eating healthier “whole” or “clean” foods.

But for some, it’s hard to integrate this into our lives without becoming “legalistic.” When people talk about “death by chocolate,” many of us know people who are actually doing this to their bodies. Their eating is out-of-control and in all likelihood, they will die at an early age. This seems suicidal, and since murder is a sin, it seems sinful to overeat or to eat foods that are not appropriate for our particular physical condition.

I think it’s a problem that must be dealt with on an individual basis. People who don’t have issues have to realize that others DO have issues with food, and suffer. It’s not possible to simply “straighten out their thinking.” That’s like telling someone who suffers from a mental illness like OCD to just “stop it.” It doesn’t work that way.
 
“Sinfully delicious” sounds to me like a caricature of Puritanism. I never actually heard anybody say that as a comment on the food they were eating, but I think I would assume they were joking by putting an ironic edge on their praise for the food. The person speaking wouldn’t necessarily be a Puritan, just making a joking allusion to Puritanism.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
For instance, I studiously avoid the word “lucky” because there is no such thing as “luck”, only Divine Providence. I substitute “blessed” or “thankful” in its place. I do not condemn people who say the word “lucky”, but I invite them to look at it from the point of view I propose.
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We have a saint called Goodluck, St. Bonaventure in Italian.
 
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BartholomewB said:
“Sinfully delicious” sounds to me like a caricature of Puritanism. I never actually heard anybody say that as a comment on the food they were eating,
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I have often heard such comments about some foods, especially very rich desserts, in casual conversation.

I think that there is still a rather wide Puritan streak built in to the American culture as a whole. Not that everyone feels the same way of course, but part of the general attitude seems to relate to a simple, even ascetic, lifestyle being superior. But of course at the same time there is the tendency to desire wealth and even opulence for oneself. No wonder many people from other cultures see us as just a little (or even a lot) nuts.

As an aside, I like the thumbnail description of Puritanical attitudes I heard some years ago: The fear that someone, somewhere, is having fun.
 
whatistrue said:
I think that there is still a rather wide Puritan streak built in to the American culture as a whole. Not that everyone feels the same way of course, but part of the general attitude seems to relate to a simple, even ascetic, lifestyle being superior. But of course at the same time there is the tendency to desire wealth and even opulence for oneself. No wonder many people from other cultures see us as just a little (or even a lot) nuts.
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You are absolutely right. American culture has this schizophrenic streak of, on the one hand, valuing discipline, hard work, and deferred gratification, and on the other hand, “living large”, showing your alleged worth and superiority (yes, superiority) by engaging in conspicuous consumption. Only it’s not really schizophrenic — it is more like saying “look how hard I’ve worked and what I have to show for it”. There is such a thing as being humble, reticent, and understated, but many people never get this memo.

Only in America does a visit to someone’s house involve being given a tour of the whole house. In Germany, being invited to someone else’s house is a rare, rare privilege.
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
American culture has this schizophrenic streak of, on the one hand, valuing discipline, hard work, and deferred gratification, and on the other hand, “living large”, showing your alleged worth and superiority (yes, superiority) by engaging in conspicuous consumption.
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I see some similarities with Chinese culture. Hard work, discipline and deferred gratification are admired but ostentatious display of wealth seems to be also encouraged.
 
Sarcelle said:
American culture has this schizophrenic streak of, on the one hand, valuing discipline, hard work, and deferred gratification, and on the other hand, “living large”, showing your alleged worth and superiority (yes, superiority) by engaging in conspicuous consumption.
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Quite true. Some American demographics — the stereotypical frugal, taciturn New Englander, those areas with Scandinavian heritage (the lagom ethic), those who have embraced voluntary simplicity for ecological, ethical, or spiritual reasons — are not into the “conspicuous consumption” thing, but many others are.


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I don’t think this sense of Puritanism is a new phenomenon. I once heard an old Yiddish proverb, something along the lines of, “Don’t smile too much. If God knew how good we have it, he would take it away from us.”
 
I once saw the comment “I buy things I don’t need, with money I don’t have, to impress people I don’t like”.

This is so true of many people.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
I was referring more to the squeamishness that some Christians seem to feel about enjoying themselves too much, being too happy, taking too much delight in something of this world, or something that appeals to the senses, feels good, or in this case, tastes good.
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I haven’t read the whole thread, but it’s certainly not limited to Christians.

But yes, I know what you’re talking about. I think there is a food puritanism that exists. My in-laws continually refer to “being good” or “being bad” based on what people are eating. One day, I ordered a salad at a restaurant because I wasn’t feeling super hungry. My father-in-law asked, “Oh, you’re being good today?” I just shrugged, “No, just eating a salad.”
PetraG said:
I think it is a little Puritanical too get too worked up about the wording.
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I don’t hear him getting “worked up” about it; he’s simply pointing out a valid observation. Language does reflect cultural attitudes, and it’s indeed interesting that we seemed to have attached moral codes and virtue values to a biological necessity.
 
blackforest said:
I was referring more to the squeamishness that some Christians seem to feel about enjoying themselves too much, being too happy, taking too much delight in something of this world, or something that appeals to the senses, feels good, or in this case, tastes good.
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Thank you. I will confess that I have proclaimed myself as “being good today” when I have chosen to eat in a more healthful fashion. I intend it as tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation (“I’m not always this good”), with no puritanical intent whatsoever.

I have also heard particularly tasty, shameful combinations of calories be called “closet food”, meaning that you take it in a closet and eat it, because you don’t want anyone else to see you eating it. A grilled cheese with two slices of cheese and two hot dogs halved down the middle falls into this category — the diner in my former office building had this delicacy down to a science.
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MAGA-huelye said:
Q: What is puritanism?
A: Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere might have fun!
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Is there a point to bashing something that could possibly have no real relation to the topic at hand?
 
VanitasVanitatum said:
Is there any evidence, it could just be a coincidence?
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As I said in my post, I never actually heard anybody say that as a comment on the food they were eating, but if I did hear it, I think that is the way I would probably understand the remark.
 
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