Believing in fate has probably always arisen in part because of the delights and terrors of storytelling. We have to realize--to learn--that in life we are not the readers but the authors of our own narratives. — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
We use eating as a medium for social relationships: satisfaction of the most individual of needs becomes a means of creating community. — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
Our perception that we have 'no time' is one of the distinctive marks of modern Western culture. — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
Food is "everyday"-it has to be, or we would not survive for long. But food is never just something to eat. It is something to find or hunt or cultivate first of all; for most of human history we have spent a much longer portion of our lives worrying about food, and plotting, working, and fighting to obtain it, than… — Margaret Visser Copy Share
This is what is meant by "sacrifice", literally, the "making sacred" of an animal consumed for dinner. Yet sacrfice, because it dwells on the… — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
Food-what is chosen from the possibilities available, how it is presented, how it is eaten, with whom and when, and how much time is… — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
A meal can be thought of as a ritual and a work of art, with limits laid down, desires aroused and fulfilled, enticements, variety,… — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
Animals are murdered to produce meat; vegetables are torn up, peeled, and chopped; most of what we eat is treated with fire; and chewing… — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
The extent to which we take everyday objects for granted is the precise extent to which they govern and inform our lives. — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
Salt is the only rock directly consumed by man. It corrodes but preserves, desiccates but is wrested from the water. It has fascinated man… — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
Eating is aggressive by nature, and the implements required for it could quickly become weapons; table manners are, most basically, a system of taboos… — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
“Fast-food outlets are cultural institutions dedicated not only to dealing with mankind's compulsion to eat and drink regularly, but also to doing battle with… — Margaret Visser Copy Share Image
