An apple a day

If the making and breaking of New Year's resolutions is banal business, so is pointing this out. I will not, then, say we should all resolve not to get fat in the year now opening – or, if we are already fat (national statistics on this are shattering), that we should resolve to become less fat. I will say that we should keep fat, fatty, and fattening in mind as we proceed. We should be cognizant that America's default setting has slipped to "overweight" and that if you are not paying attention, if you are just going with the flow and eating what comes along, you are certain to drift toward corpulence. There is too much of everything, it's all too cheap, and our society-wide emphasis on quantity rather than quality leads much too easily to gorging and binge eating.

"If I like something, I want to eat a lot of it," a friend visiting recently from out of town said. She is not fat – in fact rather slim – but that is probably proof less of self control than of her not liking all that many things. The picky eater, though a burr under the saddle of the home cook, is naturally insulated to a degree from the tendency to stuff one's face with whatever is at hand.

But nonpicky eaters, those with hearty appetites and catholic tastes, need not despair. For one thing, just because you like the flavor of something doesn't mean you have to eat it until it doesn't taste good anymore or the carton is empty. The genius of the tasting menu is that first bites are intense bites, and a menu of 8 or 10 first bites, served over a leisurely few hours, convinces the body that it's eaten more than it has. Of course tasting menus are grand, but the principle of intelligent variety has value even in the modest rhythms of everyday cooking: soup, pasta, salad, a navel orange for dessert, a sip of port – this adds up to five experiences on the tongue, if my math is to be trusted.

Water is a surprisingly effective muter of hunger pangs. If you are tempted to eat a Mounds bar, drink a glass of cold water instead. It isn't the same, but it does take the edge off. This is particularly important if you are fighting a sugar addiction, which is one of the great unrecognized plagues of our time. Apples help too: They are sweet and crunchy, and they stay with you while you break the sugar demon's hold on your soul. Apples in tarte tatin don't count, sorry.

Paul Reidinger

paulr@sfbg.com