We don’t usually get e-mail begging to differ with an almanac entry (see below), but a reader writes:
Leaving aside the fact that being likened to the Hezbollah is a
formidable strain on one’s sense of humor, Mr. Bourdain is incorrect:
as a vegetarian, I love food. My meals are tasty, and I can enjoy
them without concern that they have caused the demise of some pleasant
creature or the injury of my health. So when he says that I am both an
enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit and an affront
to all he stands for, I’m obliged to conclude that these two things are
mutually opposed. I would invite readers of About Last Night to
consider that vegetarianism is similar to the restraint of color in the
work of Giorgio Morandi: although the extremes of sensation are not
indulged, his work is full of feeling, more so than other painters who
use every available hue.
Nice try.