To an American the whole purpose of living, the one constant confirmation of continued existence, is to cram as much as sensual pleasure as possible into one's mouth more or less continuously. Gratification, instant and lavish, is a birthright

The human diet consists of just nine plants: corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, cassava, sorghum, millet, beans, barley, rye and oats.

Even though sugar was very expensive, people consumed it till their teeth turned black, and if their teeth didn't turn black naturally, they blackened them artificially to show how wealthy and marvelously self-indulgent they were.

Eating in Sweden is really just a series of heartbreaks.

More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to.

It is a curious feature of our existance that we come from a planet that is very good at promoting life but even better at extinguishing it.

Life just wants to be; but it doesn't want to be much.