I eat at Benjamin’s nearly every day, and so it takes a bit of imagination to come up with something new to eat. Martina Pahović, Benjamin’s daughter, often guesses what I will order. Today I surprised both her and myself when I ordered manestra followed by macedonia. Both terms are Italian, and they are in common use across the Istrian peninsula. The former is a soup with a wide variety of vegetables, while the latter is a salad with a wide variety of finely chopped fruits. Beans, potatoes, and corn are essential ingredients of manestra in these parts. The ingredients of macedonia vary from place to place and from season to season, but apples, pears, and peaches are almost always included. Interestingly, the name for the fruit salad was popularized only a couple of centuries ago, and it apparently alludes to the diverse peoples in Alexander’s Macedonian empire of old. Be that as it may, the meal was very to my liking. I enjoyed myself not only while eating it, but also afterwards. Even more, I felt kind of proud of my choice. And Martina noticed it before I left the restaurant. “Gosh,” she sighed half in jest, “now he will order manestra and macedonia day in and day out!” Exactly!

Addendum I (September 3, 2015)

And I have been eating manestra and macedonia day in and day out ever since, following Martina’s prediction. I feel much lighter now, but I also fart a lot. It is the beans and corn in the manestra, of course. But I do not mind an occasional boisterous fart one single bit. More often than not, it makes me laugh. Behold, an additional attraction of my new diet. For better or for worse, the summer is on its way out. By and by, I will return to my usual diet. But I will surely remember manestra and macedonia next summer. As well as all the summers ahead. An occasional fart will only prod my fond recollection.

Addendum II (July 11, 2016)

Although the summer has only started in earnest, I am back to my manestra and macedonia diet once again. It is pretty hot already, and little else attracts me, anyhow. What is more, nobody at Benjamin’s is surprised when I order my meal any longer, let alone Martina. She just nods and heads for the kitchen without a word. My meal makes me happy day after day. As ever, an occasional fart punctuates my days lately. I was peeing a moment ago when I let it rip one more time. With the help of the ground-floor toilet acoustics, the fart was so long and loud that I burst into laughter at once. Whence this merry addendum. The diet of gods, no less.