Nutrition vs Taste: The Vampire Dilemma

So I was talking with my new friend Chris» yesterday and I found myself trying to explain Nutrition vs Taste.

Lets back up a little. Chris is one of the creators of P-brane: The Green Man, a graphic novel I intend to talk more about at a future point. Suffice to say Chris and I have mutual interests in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Or Speculative Fiction ;).

One thing we talked about yesterday which wasn't writing related was my health. I'm a sick guy even though I look generally healthy. That's because one of the main symptoms of my disease is weight loss; I don't get full nutrition from eating. So, unlike my schoolmates, as I slip past thirty I'm still the same slender frame I was 10 years ago, no pot belly. This is part of what I explained briefly to Chris about my disease. The other part is that eating food aggravates my disease and makes me feel, in a word, poorly.

I have to eat food to live, so food is good, but I get sick when I eat, so food is bad.

It's actually something I don't think much about after having had this condition for so many years. However, when I was explaining this to Chris, whilst pouring the unhealthily fatty but tasty cream in my coffee, I was struck by the catch 22.

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How is it that I, with my health, still eat anything except the most nutritious, easy to digest foods? Why would I put cream in my coffee, or even drink coffee? Both of which are less desirable options for my health.

I do it because they are the tasty options.

Food is a common experience for humanity. We all enjoy ice cream and chocolate. Okay maybe not all of us, but we do share a common understanding of the enjoyment of food. Just as my body needs the supplements and liquid meals that are easy to digest; another part of me, my soul perhaps, needs doughnuts and cream in my coffee in order to fully share in the human experience.

There is a recurring character from fiction that faces a similar conundrum: The Vampire.

In fact in Mario Acevedo's 2006 vampire detective novel The Nymphos Of Rocky Flats (my review here) the main character struggles with this very problem. He refuses to drink human blood and attempts to subsist on a near normal food diet. This is one of the ways that he clings to his humanity. He fears that if he drinks human blood he will become like other vampires, indiscriminate, uncaring killers. Ultimately however this leads to problems for him, because by not eating the nutrition (human blood) that he required he was weakened by his disease (vampirism).

For Mario Acevedo's Vampire food has become a focal point for his struggle with what he has become. And like the main character in Nymphos Of Rocky Flats food is also a focal point in my struggle with my health.

For both of us peace comes with the realization that accepting the limits and requirements of our diseases doesn't mean we have to give up our humanity.

*I'm not a madman, mostly I use skim milk in my coffee, the cream was a treat yesterday.