" In pained tones, Ottavio outlined his opinion that people were not eating enough these days. All they ever thought about was their figures, a selfish, shortsighted view contributing directly to the impoverishment of restaurateurs and the downfall of civilization as we know it. What the Goths, the Huns, and the Turks had failed to do was now being achieved by a conspiracy of dietitians who were bringing the country to its knees with all this talk of cholesterols, calories, and the evils of salt. "

― Michael Dibdin , Ratking (Aurelio Zen, #1)