A "norm," of course, is a culturally expected or accepted behavior that's not technically a rule or a law, and so has way different enforcement methods. Turns out that, at my school at least, food norms are quite powerful.
Yesterday morning, I ate a piece of fruit between my first and second classes, as I usually do. Unusually, instead of it being an apple, I had an orange. I've gotten into the habit lately of eating oranges whole; that is, like an apple, complete with peel and pulp (try it! not only is most of the nutritional value of an orange locked in the peel and pulp, but the contrasting flavors and textures of the peel, pulp and flesh make for a much more complicated and nuanced experience--just remember to wash 'em real good first). Wow! People pointed. People stared. More than one person came up to me to confirm that it was, in fact, an orange. And I'm talking about people I don't know. One young woman literally stopped dead in her tracks as she was approaching me on a sidewalk, pointed at me, and said to her invisible companion (another norm I frequently subvert at my school is not talking on my cel phone very much), "Oh my God! There's a guy eating an orange with the peel still on it coming right at me!"
In other news, the long-running Italian cycling team Amore e Vita has announced they have a new co-sponsor. So now they're sponsored by the Pope and McDonalds. I'm really not making that up.