Samuel, a retired dry goods salesman from Brooklyn, could eat all day. Sam can't be left alone with the refrigerator in his Florida condo. As a diversion he watches sports on the bedroom television, plays cards, and engages in emotional conversations quoting statistics on every conceiveable subject.
In his abundantly stocked North Miami kitchen, he locates all the ingredients for his favorite meal: homemade mundelbroit, instant decaf coffee, and diet sweetner. Big handfulls of mundelbroit are broken-up into large chunks in a soup bowl and enough hot coffee poured in to make it soggy and float. A couple of packets of diet sweetner are added to the mixture, simulating a sugar frosting. Anticipating the rapid movement of the spoon from bowl to mouth, his lower lip begins to quiver. While eating ravenously Samuel studies the racetrack results in yesterday's paper, calculating imaginary winnings.
Samuel reconstructs excitedly and redigests a lifetime of memorable meals. A notorious eater, his file reveals an obsession with food since childhood. There is distinct textural priority in his current preference for: noodle and matzo-ball soup, a salad bowl of instant mashed potatoes, and bags of marshmallows. Sam's case suggests depleted tastebuds. Restorative treatment is recommended.
