"Greetings to you from Cortes Island. Wanted to tell you how much we love the show you help put together and host. Our local community radio station has recently begun playing deconstructing dinner episodes a couple of times a week, and we feel it helps ground the station's airwaves. So who are we? Well, we're a bunch of farm students learning out here at Linnaea farm. We find your show to be a wonderful complement to the lessons we're learning out here on the farm. It puts a lot of our lessons into perspective to see how people around us are putting the same principles into practice, and to learn about how the many food movements and their resistance are evolving around us."
Cortes Island, BC

"I'm a longtime podcast listener in Vancouver. My wife and I love your show and listen to it whenever we prepare our supper. We both work in a poor neighbourhood of Vancouver and have noticed that most, if not all, people on income assistance are forced to eat not only less food, but often food of very poor quality. This is due, in part, to the local stores in these neighbourhoods (mostly convenience stores that sell junk food), the expired or rotting food available at food banks, and the greasy, carb-rich food in soup kitchens. Combine this with prevalent disease (HIV, Hepatitis, etc), and you get a recipe for very poor health. We would love to see a show that spotlights poverty and food in Canada, but not just in urban areas. The same problems occur in the far north. Keep up the amazing work!
Vancouver, BC

"Deconstructing Dinner is one of the most awesome radio shows ever !!!! Thank you for encouraging all of us to think more carefully about our precious food supply. I especially appreciated your focus on Cuba and their agricultural revolution. Having recently returned from a humanitarian aid mission, necessary because of the trade embargo enforced these 47+ years by American Foreign Policy, I can attest to Cuba's innovative and careful conversion to organic and sustainable practices. Perhaps your listeners will be interested to know that the organization I travelled with, Pastors for Peace (pastorsforpeace.org) are currently organizing a mini-caravan to help the people rebuild after Hurricane Ike's visit. Apparently there was extensive agricultural damage, especially in the eastern part of the island and along the southern coast. The pastors deliver goods directly to the people with no government intervention and I feel confident that any support offered will be responsibly distributed. Keep up the great work, Jon and the Deconstructing Dinner team!!
Victoria, BC

"I live in New York, and despite the physical distance between me and BC, I love listening to Deconstructing Dinner and find the episode topics very applicable to my daily diet. After listening to the Grain CSA episode a while back, I searched for local organic grain near me in the Hudson Valley. I found it at Wild Hive Farm! After calling them up, I arranged to have them deliver grain, flour and bread orders once a month to the CSA I intern at. Thanks for the continuing education!"
New York, NY

I am including an email I am sending to the pastors of my church because I see your organization taking care of the environment (being world stewards) much better than our church does. Dear ____, Before I get to the recording [Percy Schmeiser 07/10/08], I thought I would talk a second about the, I think un biased program Deconstructing Dinner, www.deconstructingdinner.com They look at food from the stand point of being a steward of the world by trying to take care of the land so we can feed the whole world. When I go to non Christian events I am frequently asked why I stay with the Christian church. Most of these people came from church going families themselves but left because they found the church irrelevant in respect to taking care of the planet and its people. I can not really disagree with them on any of these complaints. If I occasionally heard from the pulpit talk about the importance of taking care of the planet and trying to get the congregation to go along I would feel different. Hope we can talk about this sometime. Any way getting back to the recording we talked about. I find this recording very interesting because it shows to what lengths big corporations will go to make money, regardless of what it will do to consumers health. I do not believe in Satin but Monsanto sure comes pretty close when it comes to trying to destroy small farmers. If you take the time to listen I think you will feel as strong on this as I do. Find out what they tried to do to Percy Schmeiser. They spent millions of dollars trying to destroy him and farmers in general. If you find this interesting you can find many un biased health programs at the web site.
Boston, MA

"I sincerely love your program. You introduced me to a whole new field which now occupies a good deal of my time due to its importance. You are owed a great debt of gratitude, and I want to express mine at this point. A thousand thanks for what I am sure took you a lot of hard work to get started in the first place and now to continue. When I've been very interested in something I've gone back and listened again. I've never erased some of your programs because I've felt they were so important that I've wanted to have them for reference."
Los Angeles, CA

"I wanted to say thank you for for producing the backbone of information, which, besides Leopold, contributed to the article being published in the link. Your posters are displayed on the windows of our deli business, and represent part of the message we have to increase significant individuals with significant information. In Good Soil."
Sandusky, OH

"I just wanted to say, first off, that I LOVE the show. I was immediately hooked after my first episode and I now subscribe to the podcast! So, thanks for that. I think that work and research that gets put into these shows is phenomenal and ever so helpful, particularly where we stand now in the midst of a global food crisis. It is becoming increasingly crucial to spread awareness about food security, and for me, Deconstructing Dinner, provides an awesome wealth of information as well as a launching pad from which I'm able to further investigate topics that are presented on the show.
Quebec City, QC

"The American government is pushing GMO and terminator seeds as a military weapon to dominate global politics."
unknown

"I have been listening to your show via podcast for a few months now and have downloaded most of the episodes. As a foodie always interested in learning more about food issues I want to thank you for providing people with a well developed, in depth and informative show. I have shared your website with my friends and students, and have supported some of the businesses you profiled. I plan to make my first purchase of Capulin coffee this week and am looking forward to trying it. After listening to your show on Omega 3 fatty acids a host of questions came to mind. Grass-fed eggs and meat suddenly become more important than any other label like free-range, all-natural, etc. I called a local egg provider that I was considering buying from and learned that while they are hormone and antibiotic free the chickens are fed a grain diet. I don't know where to find natural feed free-range eggs or chicken that eat bugs and grass. Also, not wanting to use Crisco or other vegetable oils in baking, the question came, where can I find organic grass-fed lard? I'm searching for that as well, but don't know if the only organic slaughter facility in Michigan renders that product. I can't imagine there is much demand for lard with the current (flawed) wisdom on fats still prevailing, but maybe that will change. Anyway, listening to your show has given me a lot of work to do, but it's something I really enjoy, and I hope to pass on this information to others, and maybe discover a new business opportunity along the way. Thanks again and I hope the show is doing well!
Dearborn, MI

"I am a subscriber via your podcasts. I just wanted to write and say “Thank You” for the extraordinary work you are doing on your show. I have not seen anyone browse such important issues with such depth. Deconstructing Dinner is covering the very issues that can advance our world and our quality of living."
Winona, MN

"You did a great show recently on livestock--actually I've been enjoying all of your shows, but that one hit home as we just this weekend slaughtered a lamb at a farm nearby, and a had a great bbq the next night. Thanks for the great listening.
Montreal, QC

"Deconstructing Dinner has brought me a greater variety of news and opinion surrounding the food I consume and the people and companies that make it than I dreamed was out there."
Portland, OR

"I would just like to thank you for the wonderful work that you are doing on your program. I have been listening to it on campus radio at the University of New Brunswick. I don't get to listen to it very often because I live out on an old farm doing the whole "back to basics" thing. Because of your program about coffee I have gotten in touch with Daniel Fourwinds from Capulin Coffee and are both working very hard at bringing his coffee and message to the east coast. Well again thank you for your work and dedication, keep up the great work."
Central Hainesville, NB

"I'm a new listener via The Tyee. Going through your archives has been a great experience, you've put together an incredible information resource in Deconstructing Dinner."

"I have listened to every episode and look forward to a new show every Friday. I love to listen to the show as I putter around my "Urban Garden". Thank-you so much to opening my eyes to so many issues."
Calgary, AB

"I’m a researcher and activist on food issues from Melbourne, Australia. I’ve just discovered your terrific radio program and downloaded a few episodes, and just wanted to say I’m very impressed. We don’t have any radio program like it over here, and I like the range of issues you cover as well as your food politics."
Melbourne, Australia

"I believe that this program should be in syndication to PBS, Radio Netherlands, Deutsche Welle and CBC. It has the quality and interest focus increasingly appropriate to mainstream media as they attempt to catch up with the rapidly developing farm food crisis."
Victoria, BC

"Good Stuff! I enjoy the show. More than enjoy it, I relish it. I have been working back through the archive since I found the show last Winter. I listen while I weed, listen while I plant, in the sun and in the shade. The more that I listen, the more impressed I am with Jon Steinman and the writers/thinkers that are represented. The guys that I work with on our "Beyond Organic" farm in coastal Texas, think that the headphones are now growing forth from my head. Our farm, where we produce fresh bamboo shoots as well as a list of Sustainably grown produce is the only of it's kind on the continent.
Austin, TX

"I love your show, and listening to new episodes is just about the only thing that gets me through the long afternoons at work. Thanks very much for all your interesting and insightful programming! Keep it coming!"
Ottawa, ON

"I just wanted to let you know how much I love the show. I was searching for podcasts on the topics of food and farming, and was giddy with excitement when I came across "Deconstructing Dinner". I started with the first show and have been listening to them all. You do an excellent job covering the wide range of topics related to local food and food security. I love the shows on local food producers and also the exposes on the large corporations. I especially love the ones that showcase local producers, CSAs, chefs, food co-ops and their philosophies and how they can make a living doing what they do. Thank you also for bringing attention to the issues of the conditions that confinement animals are subjected to, be they dairy cows, pigs, or laying hens, and the much more healthful and sustainable options of pastured and free-range animals. I could go on...I love all the shows and topics so far. Thank you for producing such an important and interesting show, and please keep up the good work!"
Ann Arbor, MI

"I'm a big fan of your show, I listen every week on my ipod on the way to school. Born and raised on the Sunshine Coast, my dad created a beautiful 10 acre organic farm in Gibsons. After avoiding the farm for years, I've finally grown an appreciation for what my family has done, not only for our family, but also for the community and, in the bigger picture, the cause. Keep up the excellent work on the show, it's relevant to today and interesting, as well as an unique source for news."
Vancouver, BC

"Just a note to state that WRFA-LP in Jamestown, New York, continues to LOVE the program. The range of topics, your commentary, the interviews - it is an excellent show. On a personal note... [in reference to Packaged Foods Exposed series] We went to do some grocery shopping, and my wife said we should pick up some Breyers ice Cream, since we almost always get that at home (we're somewhat south of Buffalo,NY). "No!" I told her. It isn't the same stuff. It isn't the same people. I explained what I had heard on Deconstructing Dinner, and then we looked at the label together. She gasped at the ingredients! We ended up with some gelato with a very short ingredient list, of good stuff. Thanks!"
Jamestown, NY

"I just wanted to say thanks for your work with Deconstructing Dinner. As a program manager for a small non-profit in Charleston, South Carolina focused on reconnecting our local food system here in the Lowcountry it is great to follow and learn from much of the work done and challenges faced in this very current and pressing field throughout the states and Canada. I just wanted to take a second to say you all do a great job. It is encouraging to hear that we face many of the same challenges that growers around the world face, and that the work we are all doing will provide real and measurable impacts to the way our cultures conceptualize agriculture and how best to raise and source it."
South Charleston, SC

"I am really supportive of FOOD, ENERGY and ECONOMIC security. Your show IS a great resource. Vote change."
"An American in Exile"

"Thankyou thankyou thankyou for all that you are holding and bringing forth on behalf of all of us and the Earth herself!"
Slocan, BC

"I came across the Deconstructing Dinner website about a month ago and so excited! I am very thankful that your shows are available in the archive and that they can be downloaded. So very informative and thorough discussions on such a wide variety of topics relating to that one thing that keeps me going - FOOD! Thank you for your spirited hard work in these matters."
Tempe, AZ

"It's been a few months now that I have been listening fanatically to your show some times even 2 or 3 times in a row, to make sure I got it!!! I have been talking about you, this amazing show of yours and of course the various contents of it... I have to admit that I am totally addicted to it, you've enlightened my perspectives, it was all dark and desolated, and now, I can see how to participate in to the changes that are needed, I am starting to grow my food in my front yard and am right now dreaming of finding a little virgin lot inside my city (portland or) to grow more food so I could distribute it to my community, for free to the needy would be ideal..."
Portland, OR

"I'd like to thank you for all the incredible shows. I've had time to listen to more of your shows over the internet this winter. It certainly lifts me up and re-inspires me to continue with this little farming endeavour. The amount of time and research you put into the shows are amazing. I look forward to listening to more shows and learning more, not only about the problems, but your examples of many of the possible solutions to our screwed up food system."
Tarrys, BC

"I am a frequent listener of your show. For some time I've wanted to write and thank you for the work you are doing in advocacy and connecting people, ideas and initiatives. I worked previously in collage radio and thought then that it would make a lot of sense to syndicate quality shows across multiple collage radio stations - it is great you have been able to do this with your show!"
Gibsons, BC

"I have been listening to the show via podcast, and I really appreciate it. You have consistently brought forward excellent topics in an in-depth and thought-provoking way. Thank you for doing so."
Sorrento, BC

"I was so inspired by the Future of Food Conference that you have been airing parts of on your show that we are starting to plan for a state-wide conference here in Vermont along those lines. We have also been inspired by your shows on GE Free zones and I am working with someone in our town to start a dialog about a GMO-free Mad River Valley (which is the community where I live). Your show is quite inspiring!"
Warren, VT

"Absolutely amazing show you do, and so important in this day and age. Thanks very much for you good work. I'd like to ask if you will be doing a show focusing in on Nanofoods? Apparently they are already on the shelves in the stores but I've heard no mention of them on DDinner. Would be a good subject to investigate... soon!
El Salvador

"I love the show and have been listening to lots of the podcasts since my wife discovered them. We live in Louisiana, close to the Gulf of Mexico, and I am wondering if you know of any podcasts similar to yours that address mainly issues in the U.S? Either way, I'll keep listening to your podcast. Thanks and keep the shows coming"
Louisiana

"I've been an avid listener almost since the beginning of your show. You have inspired me to launch back into the whole field of local food production and security. As a father of 3, I think it's the most important thing I can do for my childrens' increasingly troubled future."
Victoria, BC

"I first became aware of your excellent journalistic work through listening to your podcasts while I was preparing to go to Argentina, where I was working on a documentary film on urban agriculture for a few weeks this past May. I was very pleased to find deep treatment of many critical issues, and noted substantial resonance with my existing knowledge regarding the uses of agricultural products in trade, and the devastating food security, cultural, and economic impacts. Your work was invaluable for me, because of it's content but also because of it's format. I was much better prepared for my journey because of the much broader information I had about current issues in agriculture in general than I would have been without your podcast."
San Francisco, CA

"Thank you for DD and for changing our lives in a positive way. Your show is not only important and relevant but one of the most professional examples of good broadcasting that I can think of."
Vancouver, BC

"Hi! First of all thanks for a key show. I just moved from Eugene, Oregon (where we have Biodeisel Gas Stations) to Guelph, Ontario (3 months ago) and you guys are the first ones I've finally heard ask the great question: "How much petrol does it take to make a gallon of Biodiesel?" Thank You so much, I've been asking the same thing for years and the reality is scary."
Guelph, ON

"I am an Australian who has spent almost 10 months travelling and being inspired by the ideas and work going on by great people, such as yourself, around BC. My eyes have been open to many new concepts, particularily concerning food, and I contribute much of this learning to DD. I first came upon your show during a workshop you conducted at the Shambhala festival earlier this year, and since then, have been accessing and enjoying many of the DD podcasts. So, just two days away from my return to Australia, I wanted to touch base with you in the hope that I could somehow bring your show and/or ideas to my home country, in the hope of creating more awareness about global and national food systems. I´m (unfortunately) unaware of many of the current initiatives going on in Australia, but am very motivated upon my return to become involved and educated".
Australia

"I love your show and never miss it, I have learned so much from this program and hope it remains on the air for years to come."
Powell River, BC

"One of my few MUST listen shows. This show is very well produced, with a solid mix of narration, interviews and music. It is able to draw the connection between energy, climate, food, politics and economics like no other program, film or book I have ever read. I recommend it to all my friends. The show has changed the way I look at the world and, most importantly, the way I eat. Thanks to everyone involved. I cannot recommend a podcast more than Deconstructing Dinner."
iTunes USA reviewer

"First, I'd like to say that since I stumbled upon Deconstructing Dinner last year on Radio4All, I've listened to every broadcast and it has literally changed my life. It is a guiding light and I am now seriously considering a career in food and education. In the meantime, I have started a blog http://mindfulindividual.wordpress.com as I wanted to write about the challenges of being a conscious eater.
San Francisco, CA

"Eye-opening, well researched examination of food production & consumption. This impressively produced exploration of the politics and ecology of food production and consumption goes into fascinating detail with each of the widely varying topics it covers. Every episode delivers several new insights and revelations about the fundamental interaction between human beings and our planet that is defined by what and how we eat."
iTunes Canada reviewer

"Valuable information, professionally done, easy to listen to. Very valuable information even for those of us far away as California. Excellent format and professionally presented."
iTunes USA reviewer

"If you eat food…LISTEN!!! This weekly radio show digs deep into the issues surrounding the food we eat. Arm yourself with knowledge. You won't hear about these profound topics on the evening news. Produced in Canadian but the issues and insights apply to any industrialized society."
iTunes USA reviewer

"Just wanted to let you know you have a growing listener base in the U.S. as well. I've been a steady listener for about 8 months now and have found the program to be tremendously valuable. Just linked to your site as well due to my keen interest in the "Slow Is Beautiful" episode. Thanks."
Tennessee

"Thank you for your great radio show! I think it's great - all the issues of social justice and environmental-awareness you raise!
Kelowna, BC

"Hello Deconstructing Dinner...first let me tell you how much I enjoy and appreciate and am inspired by your show! Ever since I read Fast Food Nation in school I've been fascinated with food politics and the global food fight. I just graduated from Carleton University with a degree in Human Rights and History and I would like to continue my studies at the Ryerson Food Security certificate program starting next year."
Ottawa, ON

“Big up!” to all that you are doing with Deconstructing Dinner. I have listened intently to your passion and have been moved many, many times. I have been a chef for over 15 years and have been speaking the same truth that you share. Beyond just talking, I feel now is the time for me to join in and actively do what I can."
Nelson, BC

"I want to thank you for a fabulous and important show. I listen to it on CFUV here in Victoria and I regularly tell people about it. I rank it up there with Democracy Now! as one of the most important politically minded shows out there"
Victoria, BC

"I have been listening to your show for a few months now on CHLY in Nanaimo. It is a model show for community radio and would stand well in comparison with the best professionally produced shows on the CBC and BBC. Thank you for your vision and hard work!"
Nanaimo, BC

"It's so heartening to know that intelligent/meaningful programming is being produced on community/campus radio stations in Canada. Such media gives me hope!"
Norfolk, VA

"I just discovered the podcast of your show, and I'm going through as many of your broadcasts per day as I can (to catch up)! I'm delighted to have found a program with so much information about the food system. Even though I live in San Diego, California, your information is fully relevant, and I am really happy to have it."
San Diego, CA

"I listen to the podcast of your show religiously. Thanks a lot. Cheers from an american fan of DD."
Somewhere in the US

"Hey, I love the show, I download every single episode from radio4all. DD is also one of the shows I include when I make a compilation of programs for friends and loved ones who like to listen to radio like I do. It is always a real attention grabber for my smart acquaintances. Keep up the good work... Now get us up that show pronto, I'll make my CD Sunday after Unwelcome Guests is posted, such is my ritual, and if there's no DD I may weep, as a sensitive Southerner."
Birmingham, AL

"Thanks for what may well be the most important radio program in north America."
Madison, WI

"You guys have such a wonderful show. Thank you so much for what you do- all of you, and all of the time you put into it. This show today was the best I have heard-they are all great shows, but this one truly resonated with me, which is what made me feel like I should write and thank you guys. Know that your awakening words reach and help people all around a world even if they don’t hear your broadcast; and strike people even way down here at the bottom of the US. Thank you again.
Somewhere at the bottom of the US

"It's making a massive contribution to the national debate on these issues - thank you for this!"
Winnipeg, MB

"I just wanted to thank you for your incredible work with Deconstructing Dinner. I have been a loyal listener for a couple of years now and finally got a chance to check out your website - Awesome! As a gardener myself, I appreciate everything your show offers and the way it is presented. It is pleasing to see so many other stations picking up on your intelligent offering - I am sure it is only a matter of time until people everywhere are listening to your show - Keep up the good work!"
Roberts Creek, BC

"I would like to thank you for the best radio program I have had the pleasure to listen to. I have downloaded all of the archived programs and I listen to at least one a day."
Denman Island, BC

"First of all I want to thank you for creating, continuing and distributing your show to so many community based radio stations around B.C. I try to live by your show these days. You along with the people you promote on your show have made me want to grow a garden, recycle the seeds and eat within 100 miles of my home."
Abbotsford, BC

"I really appreciate the work you're doing, very inspiring!"
Nelson, NZ

"Thanks for such an informative program."
Moscow, ID

"I just listened to my first "Deconstructing Dinner" - and was blown away! I really enjoyed the content. Congratulations - both on coming up with the concept and executing it in such fine fashion. The only problem is having to listen to it on my computer; couldn't you broadcast through a radio station in my area, or even better, on the CBC? Your program is more interesting than much of what they produce."
Toronto, ON

"I recently heard one of your programmes on a local radio station here in Wellington [New Zealand] and then went to your website and signed up for the podcast. It's excellent! Thanks so much for your efforts."
Wellington, NZ

"I discovered your radio show upon my return from a 5,000 mile bicycle farm tour from Virginia to Oregon between June and October of this past year during which I recorded interviews and wrote a weekly newspaper column. Now I'm in graduate school pursuing a research thesis in Agroecology and Farm Policy, writing extensively, and beginning to think about how to produce and release some local radio stories. I'm having an incredible time immersing myself in the process. Getting to know your show and then learning a bit about your rapid rise has poured fuel on the flames of this passion."
Athens, GA

"Thank you for creating your show. The level of expertise you present on the show, and your professionalism is outstanding. As a vegan who rarely shops outside of our local coop, I appreciate you for bringing forth information on topics as diverse as distance food travels from farm to table including to what lengths chefs (conscientious cooks) will go to use locally grown food, to the influence on the Olympics (A Dinner Date with the Olympics) by both Coca-Cola and McDonalds, as examples. My wife and I are always challenged to think of new issues surrounding our food and community every time we listen to Deconstructing Dinner. We listen to your show both from your archives and on our local low-power FM station, KOWA 106.5-LP. I share Deconstructing Dinner with as many people as possible through the archives. Please keep up the great work that you are doing. I've never heard any other media production like it. Thanks again."
Olympia, WA

"I love your show. Thank you so much for putting this together. SOOO NEEDED! It's inspired me to think in the permaculture/sustainable agriculture way for our town and how I can gather people to make it happen."
Oroville, CA

"I love your show! Deconstructing Dinner is timely and much needed-- also very well produced and edited. It is a pleasure to listen, and I learn wonderful and terrible new things every time I hear the show."
Quartz Hill, CA

"I think you are single handedly raising the profile of campus and community radio in Canada."
Nanaimo, BC

"I recently found your podcast and have been enjoying intermittent nonstop sessions listening to the show. The info, while BC specific, is obviously applicable outside of BC as well. Anyway, I could probably ramble on for some time and come up with no better words than a simple "Thank you.""
Madison, WI

"I've sent many people to the Web site to listen to the fine series you are producing and listen to segments on my long walks (always grateful for the modern technology that allows that)"
Kelowna, BC

"I'm writing to compliment you on your top quality radio show. It is consistently excellent. My roommate and I sit and listen to your shows, we are almost through them all."
Ottawa, ON

"Thanks for the incredible work you are doing with your weekly production, "Deconstructing Dinner". The quality of your program along with all of the research required to produce such a weekly show is to be commended. I listen to your program on Co-op Radio in Vancouver."
Vancouver, BC

"I look forward to your program every week on CHLY"
Fanny Bay, BC

"Long time listener, first time emailer...Great show! One of the best shows I've ever heard produced in Canada."
Victoria, BC

"I have paid a lot more for courses from which I have learned a lot less"
Toronto, ON

"Great idea. It should be a national show."
David Suzuki, Vancouver, BC

"I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite." - Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

"If there is any truth to the cliché you are what you eat, then we should be honest about the fact that most of us do not have the slightest idea what we are." - Wendell Berry

"The transition to a fossil-fuel-free food system does not constitute a distant utopian proposal. It is an unavoidable, immediate, and immense challenge that will call for unprecedented levels of creativity at all levels of society... A hundred years from now, everyone will be eating what we today would define as local organic food, whether or not we act. But what we do now will determine how many will be eating, what state of health will be enjoyed by those future generations, and whether they will live in a ruined cinder of a world, or one that is in the process of being renewed and replenished." - Richard Heinberg

"As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists.” Joan Gussow

"One of the questions I am frequently asked when I am speaking in various countries is, Given the environmental problems that the world is facing, can we make it? That is, can we avoid economic decline and civilizational collapse? My answer is always the same: it depends on you and me, on what you and I do to reverse these trends. It means becoming politically active. Saving our civilization is not a spectator sport." — Lester Brown

"Before you've finished your breakfast this morning, you'll have relied on half the world" - Martin Luther King Jr.(1929-1968)

"Food is our common ground, a universal experience" - James Beard (1903-1985)

"The fork is the most dangerous weapon in the arsenal of homo sapiens. We're digging more graves with our fork than any other tool that is out there." - Howard Lyman

"I mind my belly very studiously, and very carefully; for I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else." - Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

"Life is so brief that we should not glance either too far backwards or too far forwards… therefore study how to fix our happiness in our glass and in our plate." - Grimod de la Reynière (1758-1838)

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

"How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?" - Charles DeGaulle (1890-1970)

"The ambition of every good cook must be to make something very good with the fewest possible ingredients." - Urbain Dubois (1818-1901)

"It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it; and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied; and it is all one." - M. F. K. Fisher (The Art of Eating)

"To free ourselves from the thought traps - to bridge the painful disconnect between our inner and outer worlds - my hunch at age 26 was that food is a perfect starting place. Because food is our most primal need and our common bond to the earth and one another, it can ground us as we stretch ourselves to draw in all the interlaced threads - so we can weave a whole, meaningful picture for ourselves." - Frances Moore-Lappé

"If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things." - Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for." - Epicurus (340-271 B.C.E.)

"Wisest is he who knows what he does not know." - Plato (428/7-348/7 B.C.E.)

"Here is this vast, savage, howling mother of ours, Nature, lying all around, with such beauty, and such affection for her children, as the leopard; and yet we are so early weaned from her breast to society, to that culture which is exclusively an interaction of man on man - a sort of breeding in and in, which produces… a civilization destined to have a speedy limit." - Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

"We have not inherited this earth from our ancestors, we have borrowed it from our children." - unknown (ancient proverb)

"Imagine your ideal world, and imagine how people would act in it. Now start acting that way right now." - John Holt (1923-1985)

"To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right." - Confucius (ca.551-479 B.C.E.)

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

"Caring about something larger than yourself, having something you believe in that gets you up in the morning - that is not about making money and not about advancing your career, but about something else - is the best thing you can do for your mental and physical health. Get out there and be part of something wonderful. Get out and fight for social justice. It will make your day." - Maude Barlow

"Clear… your mind of old perspectives, and new perceptions will rush in. Yet, there is nothing we fear more." - Dee Hock

"Dinner is the evening" - Jon Steinman

"Look at food as a part of yourself" - Jon Steinman

"The center of the body is the kitchen" - Jon Steinman

"Open all senses to the food before you. Listen to the sound from the knife as it slices. Listen to the sizzle in the pan, the bubbling in the pot. Smell the aromas in the air, the scent on the hands. Look at the beauty of that which nature has provided. Stare at the food on the plate and trace its evolution to the point of consumption. Touch the skin of the tomato and sink the fingers into its flesh. Hold the bread in the hand and feel its temperature transfer into the body. Let the food rest on the tongue. Allow it to come into contact with every eager tastebud. Breathe in the air and let it enhance the flavour. Close the eyes, shut the ears, and let the food in the mouth become a part of your being. Feel the food inside the body as it makes its way to the stomach. Taste the flavours that remain in the mouth. Think of nothing else but the food before you. Repeat." - Jon Steinman

"Nurture nature and nature will nurture you"