In a famous passage from Charles Dicken’s classic “A Christmas Carol” Scrooge is having dinner at a local restaurant when he stops the passing waiter:
“Waiter, more bread!”
“It’s a ha-penny more sir” the waiter replies.
After thinking for a second Scrooge says: “No more bread.”
The less insightful reader is left with the impression that the refusal is yet another example of Scrooges extreme frugality. But the erudite bibliophile understands that the subtext is a message to a nation rocketing toward obesity. You may have noticed any depiction of Mr. Scrooge shows him to be lean and mean. Scientists have determined that, for a man of his age, he had the remarkable calculation of 9% fictional body fat.
The message is clear: one piece of bread is sufficient. It was never about money, it was always about the carbs.