Dry January gets me drunk!
Do we always have to be reasonable? In the space of a few years, Dry January has become a silent, almost self-evident norm in our lives, on a par with speed checks on the freeway. One more rule, internalized without questioning, which imposes itself at the heart of an already complex, cold, introspective month, often laden with good resolutions, as quickly adopted as abandoned. Are we so trapped by our own excesses that we need to collectively purify our bodies and minds in order to start afresh on the right foot?
Quiet rebellion
I’m off to the front; in quiet but assumed rebellion. In protest against a practice massively relayed by media that are sometimes quick to simplify, moralize and import ready-made narratives. Because there’s something that offends me about this injunction disguised as good intention, built on images of excess and widespread festive excess. It’s like a reductive, almost caricatured vision, applied indiscriminately, as if we were depriving our cultures of the table, sharing and pleasure of all nuance.
Let there be no misunderstanding: there has never been any question here of defending abusive, unnecessary or destructive excesses. Moderation and respect for oneself and others are not new concepts. But it’s time to set the record straight. Because – no pun intended – this Dry January is getting me “drunk”. Restaurants need us. They need you. So do winemakers. More than ever. And behind this glass that we’d like to systematically ban, there’s a whole economy, professions, vocations and passions that are being undermined by bobo thinking that’s repeated over and over again, without nuance and out of context.
Zero guilt
So let’s be happy. Even in January. Let’s celebrate without unnecessary guilt, let’s rediscover the taste for sharing, for time, for the table. Let’s rejoice, let’s love and let’s enjoy life – in whatever moderation YOU see fit, but always with conscience, freedom and pleasure.
