“Sex” and Food

Ha! Bet that got your attention! We are not that saucy kind of site, except when we are talking about actual sauce, in which case we often like it spicy and messy. Anyway, I recently caught myself watching a bunch of episodes of “Sex and the City” in a row, and I was struck by how out of touch they seemed. I am not talking about the women’s cavalier attitudes towards sex and dating, or their lack of dependence on cell phones and social media, or even their outlandish outfits; it was the way they ate.

On SATC, the girls were often meeting for omlettes and orgasm talk at what seemed like a non-descript mix between a greasy spoon and chic local cafe, when they weren’t at the opening of a hot new spot ( Denial) or a real NYC restaurant that was name-dropped or easily identifiable. (Who can forget when Carrie meets Mr. Big at Eleven Madison Park?). Despite a few episodes when Charlotte felt fat or Samantha was getting nude pictures done or Carrie was in a fashion show, all the women seemed to enjoy their food with gusto. Carrie brought McDonald’s to Mr. Big’s house and ate chocolates at Payard (with no talk of calories or ever having anything but a rock hard body), and all of the women seemed to enjoy their food as much as their sexual escapades. It reminded me of how Cosmo used to tell you that guys dug girls who ate on dates because it makes them seem more adventurous in bed. On SATC, The self-doubt was saved for dating choices and exercise talk mainly revolved around racing hearts in the dark of a bedroom, not the dark of a SoulCycle class.

And speaking of Cosmo, the girls inhaled Cosmopolitans as their cocktail of choice, without thought of sugar, hangovers, or calories. This was a pre-Skinny Girl time, and no one thought twice about it. This was also a time when pink drinks in a martini glasses were considered chic, a time before “mixologists”, “artisinal cocktails” and general drinking snobbery. A time when you never had to wonder if the bartender was going to judge you. Also, not one of the girls had a gluten allergy, when now it seems at least one woman out of a group of four would be shunning gluten, wheat or flour at any given time. The girls were never juicing, never cleansing, and most of all never obsessing about any of it.

Is the omission of these food issues deliberate or not, we will never know. And a tv show would be boring if we had to listen people complain about their diets for an hour (it is boring in real life also). The foil to SATC is naturally “Girls”, where Lena Dunham is always messily inhaling whatever she wants, even in a bathtub (cake, cupcakes, etc), but the realistic result of that is her seemingly imperfect body. (We heart you Lena). But the lesson in all of this is: Life is to be enjoyed, and when dating and dining are concerned, both should be approached fearlessly. You can’t punish yourself for every bite of French fries no more than you should torture yourself for going on that bad date; as we say every Sunday, tomorrow is a new day.