I forget who coined the phrase “Everything in moderation.” It was probably Ben Franklin. He coined so many phrases he could have founded his own mint… I wonder if that’s where the Franklin Mint comes from?
Ok, I’ve wandered way the heck off topic already. I was going to talk about obsessions.
It’s very easy for people to go off the deep end when it comes to the subject of their own personal obsessions. The obsession can go either for or against something too, it doesn’t matter. Take alcohol as an example: at one extreme you have the town drunk, at the other is Carrie Nation.
A better example for me would be food. I like food. I enjoy cooking, and I enjoy eating. For me, a good time would be on excellent dinner with friends, either something I’ve cooked myself or going out to eat. Food is something that I consider a pleasurable thing in my life, but I don’t think that I’m obsessed with food. I’d rank my obsession a couple of notches lower than, say, Chairman Kaga.
Fictional gourmands aside, there are people out there who are obsessed with food, both positively and negatively. For the most part though, their food obsession has more to do with body image than with more epicurean concerns. I was going to write a huge thing about anorexia and other dysmorphic eating disorders, but I found a good link to a site that specializes in that sort of discussion here.