Food documentaries have been very popular in recent years, and countless people have extended it to a movement to liberate “food thinking”. The eating and drinking behavior that was originally regarded as “not doing a good job” has made many people feel the pleasure they have never experienced before and fall in love with many people. Foods you never loved before. “Glutton” has also become a high-frequency word, not only fashion people from all walks of life are striving to be “foodies”, but also food giants who call themselves “masters of gluttony”.
Literally, “glutton” means “gluttony”, but such a simple word is difficult to describe the characteristics of gluttony, nor can it cover the surging and unquenchable impulses in people’s hearts after craving. For those who are greedy, it is a tormented process to face food that is not available. The “Fool’s Wall” by Japanese writer Yoro Mengji lists appetite as an instinct, which is a “hack” of genes, and it will disappear temporarily only when it is satisfied.
When I was young, I had a dime for breakfast every morning. My family was worried about being woken up in the morning, so they often gave me the breakfast for the next day in the evening. After I got the money, my inner craving was often unstoppable, so I would buy salted peanuts or other snacks in advance to satisfy the suppressed original desire. The consequence of this is having to go to school hungry the next day. Although the taste of starvation is unpleasant, it instantly satisfies the craving for the food you like.
Years later, I saw Stanford University’s “Marshmallow Experiment” for “greedy”: using marshmallows, cookies, or chocolate, children can choose whether to eat one piece immediately or wait to get two pieces. I knew that I had failed the “delayed gratification” test.
Greed is not divided into class and culture, the poor are greedy, and the rich are also greedy. Among the greedy people, there are not only ordinary people like me who “hate my throat can’t stretch out my hand”, but also Su Shi who wrote “Half a shell contains Huang Yi to order wine, and two claws and Xue Xue persuade me to add food”. Slippery, full of thirst and ladle of sour milk” Lu You. Greed is also different from satisfying one’s hunger. It is a kind of self-hospitality that spares no effort to pursue the taste of food after satisfying the basic needs of survival. Liang Shiqiu wrote about one of his relatives who ate half a pear leftover and went out for a long time in the snowy night, just because he wanted to eat “quince mixed with pears”. The dopamine a greedy man gets from satisfying his appetite is no less than a rich man spending a fortune on a painting by Rubens or Cézanne.
”Qing Barnyard Notes” describes a greedy person: In the Qing Dynasty, there was a man named Li Wei in Nanhai, Guangdong. Never touch chopsticks on other parts. Usually there are relatives and friends holding a banquet, and the whole duck is missing the duck’s buttocks. He will think that the host is insincere in hospitality, disrespectful, and goes away unhappy. There is a rich man in Foshan who has a wide range of contacts. He often hosts dinners at home. He uses dozens of ducks each time. The cook cuts off the buttocks of the ducks before cooking. When Li Xi heard about it, he was amazed that some people didn’t know this treasure, so he put the cart before the horse and abandoned the essence and made dross. So in order to enjoy the duck butt that was discarded by the rich family, Li Xi simply moved his family to Foshan and lived next to the rich. This behavior of choosing neighbors for the food they are fond of, also interprets the emotional meaning of greed to the fullest.
Greed used to be seen as an irrational impulse. But as Nietzsche said: “In order to control one desire, we need another desire that is equally powerful, greedy, and insatiable.” Denying and controlling some innate wills can also make life full of negativity and negativity. Gloomy colors. The art of living and life are supposed to be perfectly integrated. Greed is not just to satisfy selfish desires, but also a mood, an unrestrained life form. Many times, people need to use these excellent abilities to grasp details to open up a closed life and give life more freedom.
