I am addicted to the Internet. Among other things, I like to see what people are saying about me, but also like to see what people are saying about food in general. One of the sites I visit regularly is Chowhound, where food-obsessed people like to talk about what they ate last night or where they are going to eat or where they can go for a specific food. It seems as if the majority of the entries read something like "I'm going to such-and-such restaurant. What's the best thing on the menu?"

When I read that, I think: Why should you give a shit what the best thing on the menu is? Maybe you don't like the best thing on the menu. Maybe the so-called best thing is deep-fried yak brains, and maybe, just maybe, deep-fried yak brains don't appeal to you? Why don't you just order what sounds good to you? Well, I already know the answer. It is because people are afraid of being mediocre, of being ordinary.

It wasn't that way twenty or thirty years ago; it was easier to be satisfied. People didn't have cell phones. There were no flat-screen televisions. They didn't feel the need to indulge in eighteen-course dinners that some jerk-off restaurant reviewer describerd as "orgasmic." They didn't have any of the media hype we have now that is supposed to make us happy or even contenders for happiness. People were more content with their ordinary lives and with their mediocre desires.

Eat Me - The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin

Read it for free on Google Books.