Eat All You Should

Romanticizing Gluttony. Ha.

Gluttony, according to the Catholic faith, is one of the Seven Deadly or Mortal Sins. Well, YEAH. Quite literally. According to the Webster Comprehensive Dictionary, it is the act or habit of eating to excess. Excessive eating does slowly kill, right? Several sicknesses are linked to immoderate food consumption--gall stones, kidney stones, liver cirrhosis, diabetes, high blood, heart ailments--you can go on enlisting. We also know that being stuffed with food doesn't feel sensational. And yet, we love eating! Is it only because it's a basic necessity? Seriously? Why do we eat beyond what is needed?

Our love for food is undeniable. Look around you--restaurants shout "Consume all you can!" from rice, to gravy, to chicken and most importantly, buffet of meals: from budget buffets with familiar dishes, to high-end dishes that you've never even heard of or you're not sure what'll taste like!

Dizzying choices--there are so many!

I have recently gone to a venue of the indesputable gluttons (including myself). Obviously, last year's Chicken-All-You-Can of Max's was a hit that they decided to bring it back this 2011. I always felt that this was their way of solving the overpopulation in their chicken pens.

It sure is! And so are the people!

Last year, I had a whopping number of six quarters of Max's fried chicken (I sat 'whopping' because I don't usually eat that much). That's an entire chicken and a half! Well... I was fresh out of teens then--I guess my body told me then, "Keep going! It's not going to harm you." YET.

This year, I had five quarters *blech*. And my mom told me we'll have another round with relatives. I think chickens are already going to run away from me when they see me. Til July comes, I will brace myself--although I'm sure I'm going to last as more than five quarters anymore. Last year, I wrote a blog on tips as to how to eat more in the Chicken  Buffet.

As revolting as those sounded, I had pleasant experiences with buffet as well. I've had my share of eat-all-you-can buffets at Cabalen, and at Dad's (with Kamayan and Saisaki), but my favorites are Heat at EDSA Shangri-La Mandaluyong and Spiral at Sofitel.

My first time (and hopefully not the last) at Heat, I was really intimidated. Though I love my breakfasts, this is the first time I was going to eat unfamiliar dishes for my most important meal of the day. Thanks to Ate Janelle for educating me with the right choices in a buffet as such--"Start with the ones you don't normally have," I remember her saying. Touche. Let me show you my first round of food here:

Obviously very excited.

Oh, excited in deed, I had come around the buffet around four times (I think) until I was feeling all stuffed! I concluded the meal with fruits, nuts and cheese mixed together with yogurt... I don't remember what they call it. Again, thanks Ate Jan for that experience!

Around Christmas time last year, I was also privileged to have been blessed a lunch at Spiral. My  boss caught me looking at the buffet with a question on my face. So he asked, "Are you okay?" And my response was, "I don't know where to start!" The boss replied, with amusement written on his face, "Start with the ones you don't normally have." Now why does that sound so familiar!?
While there, I had gone back again, and again, and again to the grilled lamb-chops, and had put on mint as a sauce/dip for the meat. Flavor explosion!

BUT, as fun as experiences were, I've come to realize that it's not something to do everyday. Well, if I eat in Heat or Sofitel for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I'd really be guilty of gluttony! That is, eating more than I should, or more than I can pay for. Come to think of it, on my end, maybe I eat beyond what is needed because I need to cover up on things I don't have means to achieve. (Overanalyzed! Hahaha) To other people, maybe it's showing off what they can afford (like this blog!).

Now, I have a fresh perspective for this indulgence of Eat-All-You-Cans. This leisure of eating a lot is a boon--I won't go to eat at places as such every week or much less every month for the sake of going there. Otherwise it becomes a cliche. Besides, if you were like me, I can only enjoy one thing at a time--not really a multi-tasker. As much as I love lines and lines of buffets with varieties of food, it's really the little, simple things are the most enjoyable and rewarding. For me, the sensation of being full or stuffed is not really there to make you feel better, but worse (have you noticed?). Our body, mind even maybe, is designed to handle a few things at a time, that why it has its own way of telling you, "Enough already!"

No, I'm not a religious fanatic or a legalistic person who will tell you "Stop over-eating or you'll go to hell!" But only giving a reminder that, "Hey, the food you eat will soon reflect on your belly, hips and thighs; or your brains. Might as well slow down and eat all you should only."