As I was browsing in the grocery store this afternoon, people were handing out samples and telling me what they were, what was in them, and so on. And some items I sampled, others I didn't. The samples, however, weren't what stuck out in my mind. It was the comments by the people handing out the samples.
The scene: some garlic bread. Not the buttery kind, the actual bread-with-roasted-garlic-baked-in. The lady handing out the samples was putting just a dab of butter on each little piece. So I took one and she said, "It's fat free butter, of course." I looked at her blankly. "You know, [giggle], the butter doesn't have any fat [giggle]." Oh. So if I just pretend something doesn't have fat, I don't have to feel guilty for eating it!
If I wanted a piece without butter, I could have just, I don't know, asked for it. I don't have to play an elaborate game of charades to give myself permission to eat about a half teaspoon of butter.
It IS just butter.
Scene two: I was deciding between sorbet and gelato at the bar at Whole Foods. The guy behind the counter was doing his little spiel, telling me what was in the sorbet and what was in the gelato. But, he told me, we use LOWFAT milk to make the gelato so it has LESS FAT than the other kinds. Not that there was any other kind right there, nor was I objecting to it on the grounds of it having fat.
(I went with the raspberry orange sorbet, which I highly recommend.)
Scene three: last night, I was looking at a tea place in the mall. They had several kinds out to try, which I was duly tasting. And--you guessed it--a helpful clerk came over and hyped each one up. Annoying enough, though it was his job. But with the last kind, he told me that it could curb my cravings for all of those sweets I wanted but shouldn't have. I thought, "I don't have problems with that," and left.
I get that these are sales pitches, and that because I am young and female and decently dressed, I am assumed to be Watching My Weight to Prevent Obesity and Stay Thin and Catch A Man. Yet I gave no outward indication that any of this information mattered to me. Frankly, the extra information just pissed me off and, other than the sorbet, I didn't purchase anything.
Maybe I'm the exception to the rule. That could be. But I don't want the comments from the peanut gallery. I don't need to pretend that the butter isn't there, or that it's fat free. I can drink tea without needing to curb a craving for sweets. I can just eat the bread and drink the tea.
The scene: some garlic bread. Not the buttery kind, the actual bread-with-roasted-garlic-baked-in. The lady handing out the samples was putting just a dab of butter on each little piece. So I took one and she said, "It's fat free butter, of course." I looked at her blankly. "You know, [giggle], the butter doesn't have any fat [giggle]." Oh. So if I just pretend something doesn't have fat, I don't have to feel guilty for eating it!
If I wanted a piece without butter, I could have just, I don't know, asked for it. I don't have to play an elaborate game of charades to give myself permission to eat about a half teaspoon of butter.
It IS just butter.
Scene two: I was deciding between sorbet and gelato at the bar at Whole Foods. The guy behind the counter was doing his little spiel, telling me what was in the sorbet and what was in the gelato. But, he told me, we use LOWFAT milk to make the gelato so it has LESS FAT than the other kinds. Not that there was any other kind right there, nor was I objecting to it on the grounds of it having fat.
(I went with the raspberry orange sorbet, which I highly recommend.)
Scene three: last night, I was looking at a tea place in the mall. They had several kinds out to try, which I was duly tasting. And--you guessed it--a helpful clerk came over and hyped each one up. Annoying enough, though it was his job. But with the last kind, he told me that it could curb my cravings for all of those sweets I wanted but shouldn't have. I thought, "I don't have problems with that," and left.
I get that these are sales pitches, and that because I am young and female and decently dressed, I am assumed to be Watching My Weight to Prevent Obesity and Stay Thin and Catch A Man. Yet I gave no outward indication that any of this information mattered to me. Frankly, the extra information just pissed me off and, other than the sorbet, I didn't purchase anything.
Maybe I'm the exception to the rule. That could be. But I don't want the comments from the peanut gallery. I don't need to pretend that the butter isn't there, or that it's fat free. I can drink tea without needing to curb a craving for sweets. I can just eat the bread and drink the tea.
Sad that this is becoming revolutionary.