“Heavenly” and food

mitzva

Mon, May 29 2023, 2:43 pm

thegiver wrote:

Anyone else annoyed by this comparison. I keep reading it on imamother recipes.

Don’t think any food should be called heaven. Physical Pleasure is the opposite of spiritual satisfaction/connection—according to BaalhaTanya running after physical pleasure numbs the soul. Anyone can explain this further?

OP, you sound like a spiritual person.
People whose thoughts are focused on spirituality are attuned to the world in a way most people aren't.

zaq

Mon, May 29 2023, 2:45 pm

Miri1 wrote:

Luscious and rich sounds great.
Decadent is a negative description, it implies a grotesque and hedonistic level of indulgence.

I agree with you...but language is a living thing that changes according to the way it's used. Once a usage becomes popular, it becomes acceptable; once it's acceptable it becomes canonized in a dictionary and forever "correct"--at least until vox populi changes it again.

Some changes that would have earned you demerits in English when I was in school:
Using "access" "parent" "partner" and "gift" as nouns. They used to be verbs only.
Using "literally" as an emphatic, as opposed to meaning "in a literal manner or sense; exactly." The only entities allowed to say "I was literally petrified" would have been either the trees in the Petrified Forest or individuals in ancient Greek mythology who had had the misfortune of looking the Medusa in the face.
And of course people talked unblushingly about their "gay schooldays" and visiting "gay Paree. "

chocolate moose

Mon, May 29 2023, 3:06 pm

that's just how people talk. it doesn't mean anything,

people who describe their ancestors as angels even though the definition of angel is nothing like a super good person.

people who say awesome and good job even though the job was not that good etc.

thegiver

Thu, Jun 01 2023, 12:07 am

The Happy Wife wrote:

The only problem I have with the usage is that heaven is a noun! Heavenly is an adjective. If you're going to describe something, at least use an adjective.

Legit!!

thegiver

Thu, Jun 01 2023, 12:09 am

Miri1 wrote:

Luscious and rich sounds great.
Decadent is a negative description, it implies a grotesque and hedonistic level of indulgence.
You can’t raise up the gashmius through decadence.
I just think it’s an incongruous word choice for a Shavuos delicacy.

Brilliant!! I so appreciate the subtle use of diction! Each word has a unique meaning and connotations

thegiver

Thu, Jun 01 2023, 12:13 am

I'm probably an ascetic. I don't eat because it tastes good. (Usually)

Does food have to taste good? So many people in our generation think so and hence problems of overweightness is commonplace. I know someone will come and say" I eat in moderation and the food I eat tastes good"--thats awesome.

zaq

Thu, Jun 01 2023, 1:02 am

thegiver wrote:

Most people who are overweight are not that way because food tastes good to them. On the contrary, most people who really love food and savor it tend to be of normal weight. (I said most, not all.) People are overweight for many reasons, among them not necessarily overeating but underexercising; eating when not hungry, out of fatigue or some other unpleasant state such as anger, sorrow, loneliness and boredom; confusing thirst with hunger; eating when distracted such as while reading or watching TV; being out of tune with the body's feelings of satiety, iow eating past the point of satiety because their brain hasn't gotten the message that they've had enough; and more. What is not known about how the human body regulates weight far outweighs (ha!) what is known.

BTW Yahadut does not approve of asceticism. Moderation, yes; asceticism, no.