Booze, fatty food and cigs are everywhere in Spain—yet Spanish people have a much higher life expectancy than Americans.

I was drinking coffee at an outdoor cafe in Barcelona when an older couple sat down next to me. They were fit, tan, and looked like they’d just come back from pilates class. But, instead of ordering muesli with low-fat yogurt or whatever, they straight up got two very generous pours of white wine, at like 10 in the morning on a Tuesday.

You can do that?!?!?!?

In Barcelona, substances that we associate with vice—booze, rich foods, cigarettes—are everywhere. They’re relatively cheap (a glass of white wine costs as much as a bottle of water). And they’re pervasive. You see people sipping beers before lunch, with lunch, after lunch: “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere,” is an American’s adage excusing an early start to happy hour, at say, 4:45. This applies functionally in Barcelona, but there’s no edge of apologetic shame for imbibing during what should be! working hours. Yet, in the week I was there, I only saw one person who was visibly drunk. Compare that to the Lower East Side in Manhattan on a Friday night.

Meanwhile, there’s more deep-fried shit than at the Iowa state fair. Fried camembert. Croquettes, little deep fried bites with ham and cheese, chicken, squid. Carbs abound. Store fronts waft the smell of fresh-baked bread. Display cases are filled with elaborate pastries.

In the US, right-wingers have doubled down on their widow-maker triple bacon cheeseburgers to own the libs. Some libs, in turn, have elevated restrictive eating and exercise to a religion of smugness: self-flagellation with 0 carbs and the Peleton, and in return you … live forever?

Anyway, you know where this is going. Despite being awash in high calorie food, dreaded carbs, alcohol, even cigarettes—people in Spain live an average of 83.86 years and life expectancy is going up. In the US, it’s 78.79 years, and going down.