is food the new sex?

I read a couple of interesting articles recently that discuss the increasingly strict obsession we have with what we do and do not eat. As a farmers-market-loving foodie, I’m wary of knee-jerk conservative reactions against “liberal elitist granola types” because they tend to be pretty pejorative—about both liberals and their granola. But the idea that food restrictions are taking the place of sexual mores is worth noting.

Chuck Colson wrote a brief column on the issue, and referenced a lengthier article by Mary Eberstadt. She summarizes the issue well:

“Just as the food of today often attracts a level of metaphysical attentiveness suggestive of the sex of yesterday, so does food today seem attended by a similarly evocative — and proliferating — number of verboten signs. The opprobrium reserved for perceived ‘violations’ of what one ‘ought’ to do has migrated, in some cases fully, from one to the other.”

Is this true? Yes, for many people. She also notes that these “verboten signs” do not just apply to personal choice; they are meant to apply in a more universal sense. In this vein, she adds, “Moreover, this reversal between sex and food appears firmer the more passionately one clings to either pole.” I don’t agree with that statement—my “crunchy con” friends and I are testament that you can uphold traditional morals AND pay attention to what you eat. But all values don’t hold the same weight!

Colson picks up on every person’s intrinsic need for a moral code:

“… as my former colleague Jim Tonkowich notes, ‘For all our relativistic talk’ about encouraging people to make their own moral choices, ‘we cannot get away from an inner sense of right and wrong and the desire to codify [it].’

Jim is right. As the apostle Paul put it, God’s law is written on our hearts. We can deceive ourselves into believing it doesn’t exist, but when we do, we find our God-given sense of morality breaking out in other forms. In this case, in food—though it would be better the other way around.”

I love enjoying the delicious food God gave us to eat (so many choices!), and I’m still trying to sort out which “food values” should transcend personal choice and impact the public. I wish these articles had discussed this more thoroughly ... Please help me think through this!