Nader recalls the phenomenon known as Victory Gardens, which he says had been making a comeback, and that that has now accelerated with the isolation COVID-19 has brought with it. "There was time," says Ralph, "when 35% of all vegetables were grown in home gardens...There are now about 20 million home gardens and growing, so this effort has been a success. This whole effort meshes well with the goal of more self-reliant economies." Michele Obama is vaguely remembered for her 'victory garden', presumably a photo-op gesture in support of the war effort on Terror -- a new poppy flower placed for each terrorist killed, two if it was a double tap. But that's not what Nader has in mind.
The Cookbook is quick and easy to read; the dishes are familiar and elegant. They remind one, again, of how simple goodness can be; like being all furrowed up with Kant and Hegel and suddenly seeing a simple dinner with friends and family as something akin to the Golden Rule. May I have butter? And it is had with a smile. I would be quite pleased if someone gave me Nader's book for my birthday. People who want to hear more from Nader can tune into the Ralph Nader Radio Hour.
Along the way Eric and Laila introduce us to another new concept -- Virtual Dinners. Like the Latitude Adjustment podcasts, the themes and personages are largely media under-represented everyday people facing a variety of crises. The Virtual Dinners see one family breaking bread with others by way of Zoom. Dinners include Kosovo and Palestine people breaking bread and discussing statehood -- Kosovo, Europe's newest entry, and the dream of Palestine. There's a dinner where Pakistanis talk with Germans. A dinner where the central topic is What Ever Happened to the Egyptian Revolution? And What If Your Country Was Occupied? is the subject of another dinner. Yet another dinner discusses a Syrian's venture to the Greek island of Lesbos. All meet topics.
Nader's book, Latitude Adjustment, and the Virtual Dinners are all reminders that, as we become ever-more absorbed in the Hive Mind that the Internet is becoming, there is no substitute for good old-fashioned sessions where we break bread together and share, face-to-face, the negotiation of our beings through language -- and the consciousness behind it that unites us all as a species. It's food for thought!
Mangia!
(Article changed on August 27, 2020 at 21:32)
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