FOOD PHOBIAE
Nick: ‘Regarding John Seiffer’s friend who wouldn’t eat eggplant, because he didn’t think eggs and plants should go together? He should just call it aubergine and enjoy!’
John Conwell: ‘My daughter had a phobia about food touching. It went so far as our having to serve her dinner on 3 or 4 plates. Meat, Veg1 and Veg2, followed by dessert. She would eat one then another plate clean. My wife and I decided to break her of this habit. We took her to a nice restaurant and we ordered our dinner. She ordered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich ‘ON THREE SEPARATE PLATES PLEASE.’ We gave up and she grew out of it mostly.’
ASPERGER’S
If you’ve been watching Boston Legal, you know the lawyer with Asperger’s Disorder. Of course, that’s a drama, and he’s an actor. Here is a beautifully written and fascinating account by a 52-year-old man, Tim Page, who grew up with Asperger’s and who – if he did not exactly grow out of it – might be said to have grown into it.
I think you will like him. I think you would like my Scrabble-playing friend who gets freaked out by condiments. I think we would probably like John Conwell’s daughter, however she chooses to arrange her food.
My point? A bit clichéd, a bit corny . . . a bit Rodney King (‘can’t we all just get along?’) . . . but try to find time to read the Tim Page piece. To me, it says that ‘it takes all kinds,’ and that the quilt of humanity is enhanced by its variety.
Have a great Labor Day weekend!
