There's something magical that happens when people eat from the same pot. The family meal is really the nursery of democracy. It's where we learn to share; it's where we learn to argue without offending. It's just too critical to let go, as we've been so blithely doing.

Even people who like the kind of food on offer, are coming to recognize that eating from this food chain is not conducive to good health.

A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius.

The things journalists should pay attention to are the issues the political leadership agrees on, rather than to their supposed antagonisms.

In Joel's view, that reformation begins with people going o the trouble and expense of buying directly from farmers they know - "relationship marketing," as he calls it. He believes the only meaningful guarantee of integrity is when buyers and sellers can look one another in the eye, something few of us ever take the trouble to do. "Don't you find it odd that people will put more work into choosing their mechanic or house contractor than they will into choosing the person who grows their food?"

When chickens get to live like chickens, they'll taste like chickens, too.

In the end I'm still a writer. I'm still a journalist, and my first responsibility is to my readers. That's where I have to draw the line.