Food lovers talk about taste in the mouth but what about the next bit, digestion?
My own digestion preoccupies me. It rules my life.
There is much confusing data about what foods are good for you. I base my decisions on how food feels after I have eaten it.
It is worth paying attention to how food feels as it travels through your gut. (I will stop there on the peristaltic journey).
I have recently been re-reading an old favourite, Three Men in the Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome.
Published in 1889, it was a hit from the start. I love Jerome K. Jerome because he gently mocks human folly in a hilarious way.
You know when you find someone attractive and it increases when you find you share similar values? Well, I recently learned Jerome K. Jerome hated poverty and oppression. “His early political instinct was radical socialist” and he later joined the Fabian Society, according to the editor of my (charity shop buy) 1998 edition, Geoffrey Harvey.
Jerome K. Jerome also thought digestion important.
He wrote (in Three Men in the Boat):
“One feels so forgiving and generous after a substantial and well-digested meal – so noble-minded, so kindly-hearted.
It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs. We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so. It dictates to us our emotions, our passions. After eggs and bacon, it says, ‘Work!’. After beefsteak and porter, it says: ‘Sleep!’ After a cup of tea (two spoonfuls for each cup and don’t let it stand more than three minutes), it says to the brain, ‘Now, rise, and show your strength. Be eloquent and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature and into life; spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!’
…We are but the veriest, sorriest slaves of our stomach. Reach not after morality and righteousness, my friends; watch vigilantly your stomach, and diet it with care and judgement.”
Real Food Lover 