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If someone could be called Gastronomo, it was the American writer Aj Liebling. “The main requirement to write well about food is a good appetite,” he observed. His was not good, he was gigantic. A meal that documented in Paris in 1955 began with a Alsacian wine combined with trout “soaked with enough melted butter to thrombosar a white Paul Dudley regiment” (White was the main American cardiologist of his time). This was followed by not one but two meat courses (why choose?). To complete things, three Krug bottles were shared between him and his dining partner, theatrical businessman Yves Mirande, whose appetite was even bigger than his. When Mirande’s health hesitated two years later, Liebling attributed it not to his life of excess, but a moderation regime just prescribed by the doctors that Liebling believed that he was depriving his friend of the essential joys of eating. Abstinence, he argued, was fatal. The concept was denied by Liebling’s own destiny. Overponeed with a sick heart and kidney, Liebling died at the age of 59 years after being admitted to the hospital by bronchial pneumonia. He ate himself until death.
However, his determination to enjoy the pleasures of life still seems heroic. Have we renounced that gourmand philosophy? The increase in costs has reached that hard sector; Last year he saw dozens of exclusive London restaurants, including unconditional such as Le Gavroche and Galvin In Windows. The rate of new openings also slowed last year. According to a United Kingdom report, spending on an exclusive meal decreased by 11 percent, suggesting that the number of people willing to waste in a tasting menu of 20 dishes is also decreasing.
In addition, the growing change towards temperance (global alcoholic sales fell by volume in 2023, according to the Drinks Iwsr Research Group) and what experts call the “incorporation of moderation” have also played their part. The calorie counting and diets are nothing new. But the fixation with the monitoring of our glucose levels and other indicators while still in the table. As wine and spirit sales in the fall of the United States (at 8 percent and 3.9 percent respectively, according to industry figures) in line with a global decrease, it is difficult not to conclude that health is exceeding the hedonism. Decadent food is no longer fashionable. And most gluttons are now only found in grotesque videos of Mukbang, where eating has become an performance that others can enjoy remotely and without guilt.
Liebling made fun of anyone who worried about their livers. But these days it is difficult to ignore the costs of eating and drinking (a recently advised cancer risk warning against any alcohol consumption) or Zeitgeisty forms to compensate for those costs. Drug loss medications, such as Ozempic, have been a great advance because they eliminate the need to reduce or compensate imitating the intestinal hormone (LPG-1) and make people feel full faster. (Mounjaro and Zepbound also work simulating a second hormone, GIP). It is believed that these medications have contributed to the first decrease in obesity rates of the United States in more than a decade. Could they also point out the death of appetite as we know it? 2024 surveys show one in eight American adults have used GLP-1 drugs and one in five British would use them if they were available in the NHS. At least 500,000 British are already taking these drugs in private. According to Morgan Stanley Research, global sales of weight loss are expected to reach $ 105 billion by 2030.
Morgan Stanley’s investigation also found that 63 percent of people in Ozempic are spending less on dinner, a phenomenon seen on both sides of the Atlantic. A New York Restorer told me that a four table could typically “share snacks, perhaps a pasta and fish course” instead of asking for a complete meal each of fish, steak and sides like them used to do so. Another reported: “Guests have less heavy individual plates in carbohydrates and many more protein.” A Notting Hill restorer suggested that Ozempic was the reason why many of his usual customers had stopped coming, while others still ordered the way they used to (“out of muscle memory”), but left a lot of intact food.
People loss medications not only reduce people’s appetite. It has been shown that they affect our desire for certain items, such as alcohol and snacks, too. “The type of LPG-1 users wants changes; His taste papillae change, “says the doctor based in New York, Dr. Alexandra Sowa, author of The Ozempic revolution (Harpercollins, £ 25). “People yearn less sweet foods, salty, hyper-palacable and more unprocessed comprehensive foods: vegetables, meat, eggs, dairy. When many of my patients have dinner, they order protein and simple vegetables, not because they are on diet but because that is really what they want. ”
Wassim Saliba is a fashionable PR, calls herself a lover of food and dinner three or four times a week. A year ago, he started Ozempic microdosis to lose his muffin top. Doctors do not recommend microdososis, but it has become increasingly popular. For a week every three or four months Ozempic took. “He felt like going to a retirement,” he says. He lost the pool, but realized how much he enjoyed eating for pleasure and is reluctant to go to Ozempic for longer periods.
Emma Topher (not her real name) works for Amazon Web Services. She considers herself a food connoisseur. After being in diets for years, he began taking Mounjaro last April. He stopped his appetite, calmed his “food noise” and helped her draw a distinction between a love for food (where consuming more is part of pleasure) and the love for food (where the amount is secondary). “Previously, my being full would not stop me,” she says. “Now I can try less, but there is still enjoyment.”
Where will all this lead? As food companies such as Nestlé launch new brands specifically aimed at LPG-1 users (their vital search range includes meals “aligned with portions” such as protein paste and pizza that are rich in protein, fiber and vitamin A), so the restorers are reconcaring menus with restricted appetites in mind. “I am sure there will be investors who want to put money behind ‘Ozempic Restaurants’, where the portions are smaller and everything is designed to support the goal of losing weight,” says the GEMMA Bell restaurant based in London. “But it would not make Ozempic the main message, since the public could easily see these places as a empty of fun and entertainment. Restaurants should always talk about the ‘joy’ of their food, excellent products and qualified equipment. “
In terms of gastronomic style, we could see the return of Nouvelle’s kitchen, exquisite plates composed of delicate snacks that make a virtue of smaller portions and healthier cravings. “Or chefs only working on their dishes to make them less calorific, or less ‘stuffed’, with less carbohydrates,” Bell suggests. “We could all benefit from that.”
And who knows? This could even spell the end of the Gourmand Regordete and mark the beginning of a new generation of thin, slender and suppressed food lovers for appetite. Is that rumble in our stomachs or AJ Liebling turning in your grave?