Wendell Berry – Empires, Cannibals, and Magic Fish Bones

August 31, 2019

“I/Thou” Walking Into The World As Such With Simone Weil, Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry And Thales While Listening to Sviatoslav Richter, Jeremy Denk And Igneous Rocks.

You could read the words of Simone Veil from Gravity and Grace, Let the soul of the man take the whole universe for its body. Let its relation to the whole universe be like that of a collector to his collection, or one of the soldiers who died crying out “Long live the Emperor!” to … Continue reading “I/Thou” Walking Into The World As Such With Simone Weil, Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry And Thales While Listening to Sviatoslav Richter, Jeremy Denk And Igneous Rocks.

July 9, 2018

Banquet World: “These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends.”

In the HBO series Westworld, androids also known as “hosts” struggle to achieve the most fundamentally unique experience of the human species, consciousness and all its attendant wakefulness and awareness, or so we’d like to think about ourselves, but hosts like Dolores Abernathy and Maeve Millay become alert to themselves and the world around them, distinctly … Continue reading Banquet World: “These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends.”

March 29, 2016March 29, 2016

The Anatomical Theater: The Stomach Our Cultural Engine.

Ah, ginger beef tripe from Yum Yum Cha Cafe. Though no longer a fixture of Rice Village, many a Sunday morning the Harvey/Maya family traveled to its storefront window and entered in search of dim sum. Beef tripe comes to us from the muscle wall of the first three chambers of a cow’s stomach. The … Continue reading The Anatomical Theater: The Stomach Our Cultural Engine.

January 30, 2016

A Week Thinking About What We Eat

The year begins with champagne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party (circa 1880-81) and new dietary guidelines. Well, something like that. Marion Nestle at Food Politics offers a review of the impregnable document: The 2015 Dietary Guidelines, At Long Last, while Mother Jones points out that climate goes missing in the document: There’s A Huge … Continue reading A Week Thinking About What We Eat

February 19, 2015

Not Much Has Changed Since 1977

It’s 1977 and I’m wearing silk shirts, bell bottom pants, and attending my first rock concert: Electric Light Orchestra’s Out of the Blue tour. All pretty happy and wonderful, though little did I know what was going on with food. In January of 1977, the United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs … Continue reading Not Much Has Changed Since 1977

October 24, 2014

All The World Is Cured Meat . . . And Insects.

This featured image features one of may favorite places in the world, Revival Market, and where I graze on wonderful headcheese and whiskey pâté. Let’s begin today’s menu with a perfect fall, comfort food recipe–Pumpkin Kale Mac and Cheese from cookingwithawallflower. I know, I know–another article about eating insects, but when the little critters are … Continue reading All The World Is Cured Meat . . . And Insects.

August 20, 2014

Thomas Jefferson And La Fruta Del Diablo: The Promise And Problems Of Harvesting Food

Our third president farmed, and failed in quite a spectacular and yet illuminating way, as Modern Farmer’s Thomas Jefferson”s Farming Failures reveals–“When it comes to agriculture, few have persevered more in their failures than Thomas Jefferson.” His was a philosopher’s wonder as he walked the fields and forests of Monticello. In a letter to Lafayette on April … Continue reading Thomas Jefferson And La Fruta Del Diablo: The Promise And Problems Of Harvesting Food

August 19, 2014

Body and Soul: “our demands upon the earth are determined by our ways of living with one another.”

Most of the artwork through this post is by Joe Jones (1909-1963) who painted midwestern wheat fields, segregation in the south, and the effects of The Great Depression on American farmers. The above painting The American Farm (1936) captures the stark ruin of soil and crops and the precarious struggle for life in rural America. … Continue reading Body and Soul: “our demands upon the earth are determined by our ways of living with one another.”

August 14, 2014

The Eternal Delight Of Decay

“Energy,” said William Blake, “is Eternal Delight.” And the scientific prognosticators of our time have begun to speak of the eventual opening, for human use, of “infinite” sources of energy. In speaking of the use of energy, then, we are speaking of an issue of religion, whether we like it or not. For Wendell Berry, … Continue reading The Eternal Delight Of Decay

July 13, 2014July 13, 2014

Bluefin Tuna to Palm Oil: Sustainability is the Word: Three Books And A Blog.

I’m almost through reading Carl Safina’s seminal text Song for the Blue Ocean, which surveys the state of Bluefin Tuna in the Northeast of the United States, salmon in the Northwest, and coral reefs in the Pacific. More than fifteen years ago Safina’s voice artfully, evocatively raised an alarm about the real thought that needs … Continue reading Bluefin Tuna to Palm Oil: Sustainability is the Word: Three Books And A Blog.