...for me there is too little of life to spend most of it forcing myself into detachment from it.

There are may of us who cannot but feel dismal about the future of various cultures. Often it is hard not to agree that we are becoming culinary nitwits, dependent upon fast foods and mass kitchens and megavitamins for our basically rotten nourishment.

death ... so seldom happens nowadays in the awesome quiet of a familiar chamber. Most of us die violently, thanks to the advance of science and warfare. If by chance we are meant to end life in our beds, we are whisked like pox victims to the nearest hospital, where we are kept as alone and unaware as possible of the approach of disintegration.

At present, I myself do not know of any local witches or warlocks, but there are several people who seem to have an uncanny power over food.

Family dinners are more often than not an ordeal of nervous indigestion, preceded by hidden resentment and ennui and accompanied by psychosomatic jitters.

Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and moon, or good people and noble ventures.

An oyster leads a dreadful but exciting life.