Cupcakes & Calculations

“What do you mean there aren’t any more red velvet cupcakes?!”

So…I pray these don’t have corn in them, because they were really quite scrumptious, and the little sugar decorations had glitter in them – a big plus in my book. Yes, Georgetown Cupcake makes some pretty impressive cupcakes.

(Pictured: Chocolate Hazelnut and Vanilla & Chocolate cupcakes)

My Food for Thought class has made me increasingly aware of the calculations that I always automatically perform before every bite I eat. It’s especially interesting because I believe people rationalize all the time in their rhetoric (and not just about food).

Justifying the quantity or content of a meal: “I am SO hungry” or “I’m not hungry.” Also, speaking to the aesthetic appeal of the food in question: “Mmm well it looks/tastes/smells so good.” And speaking in a framework of justice – whether one “deserves” to indulge or not: “Well, it’s okay because I exercised all week.” “I ate sprouts 24/7 the last three days, so I can have a treat.” “I’ve been eating junk food all day…so I better not.” “I’ve been eating junk all day…so why not?”

Seems like there’s a general trend of human beings feeling the need to justify what they eat. I wonder what that says about how we view the act of eating. Are we consuming or fighting our meals? Is food something to enjoy or has it become an obligation? Have gustatory preferences become yet another category (like musical taste) by which people can judge us? Definitely a theme I will be looking for throughout this course…

Anyways, back to the cupcakes. I justified splurging by buying a second, intending to save it (chocolate hazelnut) for my roommate. Instead, I enjoyed my carrot cupcake, though I had to scrape off part of the creamy frosting since I hate excessive frosting.

After polishing off the first cupcake, I stared a bit longingly at the chocolate hazelnut for a few minutes. I guess it’s alright…I walked a couple of miles already today and eliminated about a third of the calories from the previous cupcake just by not eating the frosting. Yes. That’s it. There we go.

Good thing. The second one happened to be the better cupcake, in my opinion.