by Bluegoat » March 3rd, 2010, 5:03 pm
I don't think lewis was just saying food and sex were the same in that passage - he was trying to argue that our sexual lives were even more abnormally inflamed than other natural desires, at least in general.
I do think he might be a bit surprised by the "food porn" that has become so common. Though in Screwtape he does talk about becoming a connoisseur of food as a kind of gluttony, one particularly attractive to men.
However, I think that this attitude to food, and home decorating, etc, is really driven by marketing. An attempt to make money by artificially inflaming the appetites. This also happens with sex, which is why our consumer culture is so very obsessed, but there is a difference. With sex, it seems to naturally want to spread itself everywhere and so people take advantage of it. Other bodily appetites don't seem to become quite so all consuming for so many without help.