“It is the mark of [a] certain kind of dogmatic mind that the farther away from the evidence he gets, the more certain he gets” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 115).
Camel Bisque
“And speaking of finicky diets, these are the people who strain at gnats and eat the camel. And to make it perfectly plain, swallowing unclean camels is a dietary issue” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 110).
Complicity for the Pie
“Eating stolen goods that I watched get stolen is morally problematic, and I cheerfully grant it. But I am here talking about my supposed complicity in the strange oaths that the foreman in the Texas orchard swore at his underpaid migrant workers, in the season before those pecans from said orchard made their way through …
Don’t Taunt the Cows
“On matters of gross injustice in the production of my dinner, I quite agree with the principle. In other words, if I knew a restaurant in town with the best-tasting steak got those fantastic results by flogging its cooks out back, cheating its wholesalers, double-crossing the waitresses on the tips, and sending representatives out to …
No Such Thing as an Uninterpreted Fact
“Narrative accounts about how the world works are worldview accounts. Narratival worldview accounts depend on their underlying religious assumptions . . . When we step out into the world of ‘how a bill becomes a law,’ ‘how a cow becomes a hot dog,’ and ‘how Monsanto became the devil,’ we are stepping into a religiously …
Soundtrack of Our Lives
“When housewives want to blow through cleaning the kitchen and two bathrooms, what is needed is some Dwight Yoakam, or Fleetwood Mac, or Asleep at the Wheel, turned up to eleven, and not, say, some 17th century music for five recorders, including two of the big ones” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 98).
Puritan, Not Purist
“I want to be a puritan, not a purist. I want to [be] reformational, not revolutionary. I am a slow food reformer, not a fast food reformer. I am a food catholic, not a food sectarian” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 97).
Ingrate Growth is Not Growth
“We can do better without disparaging what was given us before” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 94).
Great Corn, Okay Corn, and No Corn
“Fresh corn tastes better than canned corn, and who knew? So if you want to pay extra for that, great. Be our guest. But quit acting like it is a ‘conscience and responsibility’ thing, because canned corn is nutritionally better than no corn.” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 91).
Always Ready
“If you can’t find an outlet to plug this into, then you clearly have the wrong kind of adapter.” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 89).