Last year's brutal attack on the beloved California Raisins is the beginning point for this poignant and disturbing examination of America at a crossorads. The author makes an undeniable but still hard to swallow case that something has gone deeply wrong with the national discourse at the dinner table. One upon a time, he notes, dinner was a time for families and friends to gather for both sustenance and civil conversations. But somehow the fabric of a well woven and coherent argument has given way to infantile behavior such as exhibited in the food fight scene in the movie Animal House.

Fortunately, Mr. Ogre transcends reflexive Hollywood bashing. Still, this reviewer wishes that greater respect had been paid to the contributions of John Bellushi, especially his "Luck of the Irish" commentary from Saturday Night Live. To Mr. Ogre's credit, he cites the latest FBI statistics on food related crimes and lays bare the truth about the skyrocketing sales of rutabagas.

This reviewer was deeply moved by the epilogue in which Mr. Ogre makes a heartfelt plea for compassion and understanding. Readers of this review are strongly encouraged to seek inspiration in Frank Zappa's song Call Any Vegetable.