A Lower Numbers for Top 10

I have just completed a mouth-watering journey through your Top Ten list (“Top Ten: The Best Recipes of the Year,� Jan. 7). And, though I find them truly exciting and tasty, I must say that I am just a little appalled. I’ll tell you why.

For more years than I care to remember, I would gourmandise my way around the world, caring little for fat or calories, sodium or sugar content. I would truffle myself through Italy, creme bru^lee through France, bratwurst and beer through Germany and schnitzel from one end of Austria to the other--until I was found to have Type II diabetes a few years ago. Oh, I’m fine, as long as I watch sugar and fat and sodium--and take a pill every day.

But what truly discourages me and frustrates my appetite is that not a single one of your Top Ten comes even close to anything I could have. Oh, I know. From time to time you condescend to list some low-fat or sugar-free recipes, but it is like Rapunzel without hair. I am left at the bottom of the tower, with no means of climbing up.

How nice it would be to do a Top Ten list that would be healthful. Remember, all those calories and cholesterol levels come home to roost one day. (Tell me!) This is a Top Ten list for college graduates who are not old enough to have repaid their college loans.

Please, I beseech you (what a great word, beseech: It is so Emily Dickinson), have mercy on those of us who have to count everything we put into our mouths.

WERNER S. HAAS

West Hollywood