Brillat-Savarin's famous statement: "Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are," shocks me in so many ways. Thinking about this statement I find it really hard to understand how he can tell me what I am by what I eat. If I am what I eat then why can't I grow. This may have been said to be a joke, or it could have been said to work a nerve. This statement in so many ways can be found to be offensive rather it is meant to be this way or not. So I even try to just ignore this statement all together, but I would still have a problem with it in the back of my mind.
If I am what I eat; then half the day I eat nothing and the other half I eat. When I choose to eat, I choose to eat a wide range of things so how can what I eat be pulled into one word that can describe me. So today I ate an 8oz lite yogurt, for lunch nothing, for dinner a salad and a grilled piece of fish. What am I? Since you can tell me what I am? You are what you eat. To say that you are what you eat is really unrealistic because people eat different things on a daily basis, if I am what I eat I would change everyday.
I think that the statement, "tell me what you eat and I shall tell you what you are," is not possible. Rather the statement in some ways is to say that you are unhealthy if you eat unhealthy, or to say that you are healthy if you eat healthy, even these statements have a line that has to be cross before either of these is correct. But these statements cannot be said about any particular person because it is not true. Because if you eat unhealthy then exercise and right lifestyle you can still be healthy.
"Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are," seems wrong and sounds wrong. Anyone can tell you what they think you are, but only you know who you are and that's what matters.
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