Food

"Plato [had never written] a cookbook, but in The Republic he gave us one of the most enduring images of food in history. He described what he called the “healthy city,” a community sustained not by luxury but by simple meals shared among citizens. Instead of feasts and banquets, he pictured a table of barley bread, olives, cheese, beans, onions, and a little wine. It was food that nourished without excess, and for Plato, it symbolized justice itself. Food in this vision was not a distraction or [an] indulgence. It was a foundation. Families would gather to break bread and share conversation, strengthening the bonds of community. Plato saw this simplicity not as poverty, but as the proper diet of a people who lived in harmony with themselves and with nature. A healthy city was built on humble meals and steady moderation, not extravagant banquets. By beginning with food, Plato signaled something larger. He understood that the way a people eats reflects the way a people lives. His ideal diet was more than sustenance. It was philosophy on a plate."

"What is sufficient for health is not enough for pleasure. And it is often a matter of doubt whether it is the needful care of the body that still calls for food or whether it is the sensual snare of desire still wanting to be served. In this uncertainty my unhappy soul rejoices, and uses it to prepare an excuse as a defense. It is glad that it is not clear as to what is sufficient for the moderation of health, so that under the pretense of health it may conceal its projects for pleasure."

"You can tell any story through food. Take , a country in that not many know much about outside of that region, but in Red Sands (2020), I use food to talk about unusual things. I go to the , and that’s a way to talk about our climate emergency because they haven’t had good harvests there for a very long time."

"Based on the safety and nutritional assessment you have conducted, it is our understanding that Monsanto has concluded that corn products derived from this new variety are not materially different in composition, safety, and other relevant parameters from corn currently on the market, and that the genetically modified corn does not raise issues that would require premarket review or approval by FDA...."

"A is for dining Alone ... and so am I, if a choice must be made between most people I know and myself. This misanthropic attitude I am not proud of, but it is firmly there, base on my increasing conviction that food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly. There are few people alive with whom I care to pray, sleep, dance, sing, or share my bread and wine. Of course there are times when this latter cannot be avoided if we are to exist socially, but it is endurable only because it need not be the only fashion of self-nourishment."

"Severe food insecurity is one extreme of the scale, but even moderate food insecurity is worrisome. For those who are moderately food insecure, access to food is uncertain. They might have to sacrifice other basic needs, just to be able to eat. When they do eat, it might be whatever is most readily available or cheapest, which might not be the most nutritious food. The rise in obesity and other forms of malnutrition is partly a result of this phenomenon. Highly processed foods that are energy-dense, high in saturated fats, sugars and salt are often cheaper and easier to come by than fresh fruits and vegetables. Eating those foods may mean your daily requirement of calories is met, but you are missing essential nutrients to keep your body healthy and functioning well. In addition, the stress of living with uncertain access to food and going periods without food can lead to physiological changes that can contribute to overweight and obesity. Children facing hunger, food insecurity and undernutrition today may have a higher risk of overweight, obesity and chronic diseases like diabetes later in life. In many countries, undernutrition and obesity coexist and both can be consequences of food insecurity."

"I came to [Jim Sinegal] once and I said, ‘Jim, we can’t sell this hot dog for a buck fifty. We are losing our rear ends.’ And he said, If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out. That’s all I really needed. By the way, if you raised (the price) to $1.75, it would not be that big of a deal. People would still buy [it]. But it’s the mindset that when you think of Costco, you think of the $1.50 hot dog (and soda)."

"If you are eating well and your condition is pure and clean, life itself becomes like the dreams or visions that you have when sleeping."

"Therefore, I tell you, dont be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isnt life more than food, and the body more than clothing? See the birds of the sky, that they dont sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Arent you of much more value than they? "Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan? Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They dont toil, neither do they spin, yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, wont he much more clothe you, you of little faith? "Therefore dont be anxious, saying, What will we eat?, What will we drink? or, With what will we be clothed? For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first Gods Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore dont be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each days own evil is sufficient."

"The simplest of all desires is that which the baby feels for its food. The human body is a wonderful machine, so designed as to compel the infant to comply from within with certain substances in its environment which we call food. The mechanism by which this compliance is brought about we need not consider in the present discussion. Suffice it to say that when hunger pangs are initiated in the infants stomach, he cannot pay attention to anything in the world but food."

"The Gods have not ordained hunger to be our death: even to the well-fed man comes death in varied shape, The riches of the liberal never waste away, while he who will not give finds none to comfort him, The man with food in store who, when the needy comes in miserable case begging for bread to eat, Hardens his heart against him, when of old finds not one to comfort him. Bounteous is he who gives unto the beggar who comes to him in want of food, and the feeble, Success attends him in the shout of battle. He makes a friend of him in future troubles, No friend is he who to his friend and comrade who comes imploring food, will offer nothing. Let the rich satisfy the poor implorer, and bend his eye upon a longer pathway, Riches come now to one, now to another, and like the wheels of cars are ever rolling, The foolish man wins food with fruitless labour: that food – I speak the truth – shall be his ruin, He feeds no trusty friend, no man to love him. All guilt is he who eats with no partaker."

"This much thou hast taught me: that I should learn to take food as medicine. But during that time when I pass from the pinch of emptiness to the contentment of fullness, it is in that very moment that the snare of appetite lies baited for me."