Last night my husband and I went to our favorite Italian restaurant in the area. The chef makes pasta from scratch every day and cooks with fresh and local ingredients.
(Based on this description, do I need to tell you that it’s not a cheap place?)
When our server announced one of the chef’s specials of the evening, “Spaghetti Rustica” (with sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese), I just could not resist.
“Does it come in a half portion?” I asked hopefully.
“No, not the specials,” was the regretful response.
“How much is it?” I continued.
“Nineteen dollars.”
“Yikes!” was my initial thought. I feel guilty when I spend more than $15 on dinner. I quickly deliberated with myself and decided that it was still cheaper than most of the non-pasta entrées on the menu and I could go without a dinner salad. “Sounds good!”
The food was delightful and perfectly satisfying. In fact, I joined the clean plate club – usually an impossibility for me when dining out. I can literally feel the difference between this “cooked-from-scratch” food and the “pre-made and re-heated” food served in most middle of the road restaurants like Olive Garden® Italian Restaurant and The Cheesecake Factory. It doesn’t make me feel heavy and greasy like most meals at aforementioned chain restaurants. Rather, it makes me feel happy and content.
After a week of sugar detox, I also decided to indulge in my favorite dessert, Tiramisu. (See above picture… We’re still trying to figure out if the fork “decoration” was on purpose.) Did I need it? Absolutely not. Did it bring me pleasure? Ehm, yes!
So the question on the table is this: Is it unethical to eat a meal like this when people are starving around the world? The fact that I’m even asking the question makes me think that it is. I mean, the amount of money we paid for that meal could feed a child in a developing country for a year (according to WFP).
At the same time, I would rather spend more to support a local business using organic and seasonal food than spend less on a nation-wide chain serving up pre-processed, conventionally grown food. Going out to eat is one of our favorite activities. It’s relaxing and a great way to foster conversation (no iPods or phones allowed at the table). It brings us joy.
So how do you balance the desire to enjoy yourself and eat food that is both good and good for you (and the planet) with the dilemma of spending more than necessary for basic sustenance?
I haven’t figured it out! So if you have any insight on the matter or want to share your own struggles with similar dilemmas, post a comment. I’d love to hear from you.
If it feels good, it is. No need to ruin your perfectly delicious tiramisu (my fave dessert, too!) with guilt. Not unethical at all. Savor away. It is not our responsibility to save the world. It does not need saving. There is not as much suffering as we might think. It’s just if WE were in that situation, it would be unpleasant.
I’ve got a lot to write on this – but R is giving us makeovers. : )
Andrea
I agree with you that it’s not our responsibility to “save the world.” I also agree that a lot of people living with way less than we do are just fine (and probably happier than the average American). However, I do believe that we have a certain responsibility not to take more than our share of the world’s resources. The book Radical Simplicity discusses this in terms of “Ecological Footprinting.” When I evaluated my Footprint, I found that it measures 68% of an average US Footprint (24), but that we would still need 3.5 planets to support my lifestyle for all humans. This is my struggle.
We’ll need to get together and discuss this further sometime (over some tiramisu). I hope your makeovers were truly amazing!
I would say it’s all about balance. I wish I could save the world, I really do! I do believe there is a lot of suffering in the world. The Yoga Sutras by Patanjali, the classical text of the Yoga school of Indian philosophy, talk about aparigraha, the concept of taking only what we need. I try to incorporate this in my life the best I can but like everything else it’s a practice and I’m not always successful.
I would say it’s ok to enjoy something decadent from time to time, I know I do! At least you have awareness which is a lot more than most people have.
I find it outrageous that you even need to ask this. We do not need to live like monks to help the rest of the world. Our local businesses need our money to survive, and going cheaper means supporting larger multinationals.
I remember how one simplicity blogger once told how he/she had met a woman who had literally moved into a hut in the woods, was growing her own food and isolated herself from the world. She came to the blogger and asked, anxious: what more can I do? Blogger said: rejoin the world. One person giving up everything is not doing as much as the same person giving up less, and encouraging others to do the same.
I understand the need to live simply. But what else is indulging in delicious, well-made food than celebrating simple pleasures? Consider this: the fact that you pay more for food, means you spend less on something else, less important. Your pleasure did not create waste, introduce useless trinkets to your household, and it made you feel good.
In the end, the only thing we know is that we must enjoy life. Yes, it gives great pleasure to be able to help others, and it certainly is part of enjoyable life. But sacrificing oneself completely, and not enjoying those things we can, may not be the right path to take.
And one more addition: you seemed concerned that you do not want to consume more than “your share of the worlds resources”. But remember: the price does not determine that. Whether cheap or expensive, you will still be eating food. Whether the food was really good, or really cheap and crappy, it will consume the same amount of resources (and the crappy one possibly more, as it is often made of monocrops, with pesticides and whatnot). Using much money is not the key here: as I already pointed out, if you actually spent as large percentage of your income to food as, say, people in Pakistan (50%), your consumption overall would drop.
The same goes with many other items: if you really had to spend months salary on a winter coat (which was true in developed countries 100 years ago) you would probably not own that many.
Hi! Thanks for the comments. This is exactly the type of dialog I was hoping for. I agree with you that paying more to support local business is totally the way to go. And I prefer to spend most of my money on fewer, high quality items. Ultimately (and I know this is kind of cliché at this point), it’s about balance. We’re on this earth to enjoy life and to take care of each other and the earth. I firmly believe all of these objectives can happen in unison.