...think of agriculture as something the grasses did to people to conquer the trees.

Twenty thousand birds moved away from me as one, like a ground-hugging white cloud, clucking softly.

The energy I was sensing in audiences was political energy, as much as anything else.

...Only the big food manufacturers have the wherewithal to secure FDA-approved health claims for their products and then trumpet them to the world. Generally, it is the products of modern food science that make the boldest health claims, and these are often founded on incomplete and often bad science.

The environment is not just around you, it's passing through you.

Wrangham cites several studies indicating that in fact humans don't do well on raw food: they can't maintain their body weight, and half of the women on a raw-food regimen stop menstruating. Devotees of raw food rely heavily on juicers and blenders, because otherwise they would have to spend as much time chewing as the chimps do. It is difficult, if not impossible, to extract sufficient energy from unprocessed plant matter to power a body with such a big, hungry brain.

Most important thing about your diet is who cooks it, a human or a corporation.