No, I don’t think so. Just someone sweeter than my solitude and someone willing to share our entrees family style at restaurants. I guess I’ll know them when I know them.

I mean I would say that I disagree with most of his perspective on vegetarians and vegans and think he was probably being an asshole about them on purpose to cause a stir. He was very much coming at it from the perspective of someone who loves the sensory experience and indulgence of food, and he either discounts or elides valid reasons for people to be vegetarian and generalizes them as obnoxious pick-mes, which again I think is incorrect. And that there are any number of things I disagree with him about but would love to hash them out with him over dinner. Rest in paradise.

But he makes a point in one of his essays about being willing to relax preferences when traveling or when a guest that I think is worth discussing. Not restrictions (re allergies or religious limitations or other health things). But preferences, if needed, possible, and appropriate. I think he was very well-traveled and knowledgeable about both of those conditions of being surrounded by cultures different from his own and being a guest in the homes of people he doesn’t know well, and I take very seriously his recommendation that if possible, people should adopt flexibility and openness in those circumstances as part of participating in cultural appreciation.

What do you think about it?