Food Is Great, Food Is Good

Today is a kitchen day, the kind that gives the holidays a good name. Medieval music on the stereo, a windy wintry storm outside, and I'm making spiced pecans, molasses cookies, and red chile sauce. Can hardly wait to start handing them out to all and sundry. Homemade treats involve so many sense pleasures in the making and the eating: the smell of cinnamon, the taste of chile, the weight of dough against a wooden spoon. And they represent a kind of socially acceptable public intimacy: something prepared with human hands gets given to another human, who then takes it into his or her body, turning matter into energy, transforming both food and flesh.

So, when Punkin Sneezers rule the world, gift-giving will be all about making and exchanging delicious food. No plastic objects from China allowed. If you need a plastic object, go buy it yourself. Presents should not be burdened with such deadening influences.