There's a schizoid quality to our relationship with animals, in which sentiment and brutality exist side by side. Half the dogs in America will receive Christmas presents this year, yet few of us pause to consider the miserable life of the pig - an animal easily as intelligent as a dog - that becomes the Christmas ham.

If you care about the animals, actually, organic might not be the best answer because now we have organic feedlots, organic factory farms. If you care about the environment - pesticides, especially - organic is the answer.

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

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

Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

It's been a mystery to me and a disappointment why conversation about health care reform hasn't turned more attention to the subject of food.

My work has also motivated me to put a lot of time into seeking out good food and to spend more money on it.