Ripe vegetables were magic to me. Unharvested, the garden bristled with possibility. I would quicken at the sight of a ripe tomato, sounding its redness from deep amidst the undifferentiated green. To lift a bean plant's hood of heartshaped leaves and discover a clutch of long slender pods handing underneath could make me catch my breath.

One of the most irresponsible things we can do is eat in ignorance, without any awareness of what our eating is doing to the world or to other species.

Eating is a political act.

Time is the missing ingredient in our recipes-and in our lives.

The problem is that we let special-occasion food become everyday food. That goes for soda and french fries.

This is part of human nature, the desire to change consciousness.

Cooking (from scratch) is the single most important thing we could do as a family to improve our health and general well-being.