LOL...I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the
apparent disconnect.
Actually there isn't a disconnect at all...for two reasons.
First, the quantities I'm talking about in these fancier recipes are really quite small by most people's standards (especially the standards of the potluck crowd)...for instance in the Brie En Croute, we're only talking 4 oz of cheese
total, which on a per serving basis is about 1 oz or only a couple of bites. When I have an ice cream based desert I actually do measure the amount and never have more than the "standard" serving size, namely a pretty small 1/2 cup. (I actually do regularly get 4 to 5 servings of ice cream out of a pint container). The Asparagus & Salmon recipe is based on just an ounce or two of smoked fish per person. Fancy food doesn't have to be large amounts of food and, in fact, usually is based on very tasty but
very small servings.
Secondly I highly tailor my consumption to my caloric burn on a day by day basis. If I have a very high burn rate day (like a 14er climb day), I somewhat up my intake. OTOH, if I have a fairly sedentary day (like a travel day), I greatly reduce my eating. So although I can go through an entire climb day on 2 power bars, I will eat (for me) a large meal at the
end of that day...but only on that day. That means a 6 to 8 oz steak (instead of my normal 4 oz steak), a nice appetizer and some desert. And the evening before a big climb day, I also slightly up my caloric intake via a somewhat larger serving of pasta to carbo load my system.
So there really is no disconnect at all...I really do look at food as fuel and eat only as needed to live. That said, I see no disconnect in making that fuel/food quite tasty and attractive. Bottom line: high quality food in small (some would say tiny) quantities
only sufficient to replace calories burned.
My problem with the live-to-eat crowd (aka potluck crowd) is that the act of eating is the gratification itself and there's little concern about the whether their bodies need the food, particularly in the quantities being consumed. How good the food tastes is of less concern than how much there is. And there's a great tendancy to make the food tastier through fat-based cooking (frying, use of oils and creams, etc.) And the long term result of all that gorging is that most of the live to eat crowd is noticeably overweight, if not outright obese...and eventually suffers the consequences in obesity related diseases: high blood pressure/high cholesterol/cardiovascular problems, diabetes and its side effects (blindness, circulatory problems), even osteoarthritis, and quite likely also Alzheimers.
I have on a few occasions attended potluck gatherings and brought along a very tasty dish cut up into small servings...but with enough servings (usually 1 piece per serving) for the size of the expected crowd. Instead of taking one serving as I would have expected, I was amazed to watch most people take 4 or 5 because "they're so small and I couldn't have just one".
A large reason that I am so fit for my age is that I tailor consumption to caloric burn...yet I don't deprive myself because I'm active enough to have a fairly high burn rate. And I consider myself a fairly typical outdoors-oriented Coloradan...we're the "skinny state" because it's common here to balance intake to output (and have a high output). And potlucks are pretty rare...there are thousands of things to do (mostly strenuous) besides eat. And the differences are sometimes amazing: my friends and I have about a 90% accuracy rate in telling which people in a campground are Coloradans and which are out of state visitors simply by observing their girth. A large girth relative to age almost always means an out of state visitor.