“…nature does everything in the operations of a beast, whereas man contributes to his operations by being a free agent. The former chooses or rejects by instinct and the latter by an act of freedom, so that a beast cannot deviate from the rule that is prescribed to it even when it would be advantageous to do so, and a man deviates from it often to his detriment. Thus a pigeon would die of hunger near a basin filled with the best meats, and a cat upon heaps of fruits or grain, although each could very well nourish itself on the food it disdains if it made up its mind to try some. Thus dissolute men abandon themselves to the excesses which cause them fever and death, because the mind depraves the senses and because the will still speaks when nature is silent.”
Came across that eloquent quote while reading another book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Mr. Pollan was talking about Americas’ penchant for dietary/nutritional fads every few years, that could very well stem from the fact that America may not have a national cuisine to call its own, leaving it open to the cuisines of the world, and unstable ground, speaking from an epicurean point of view. Which could be one cause of multitude health related diseases and disorders rampant in America.