The Remembering, Vol 87: Would You Eat a Cookie Made From a Plastic Bottle?
Wendell Berry on eating as an agricultural act, Paul on the nicotine rebrand, and a protein cookie that started life as PET plastic.
Written by
The Lineage Team
Written by
The Lineage Team
Cook one meal where you know the story of every ingredient
Wendell Berry passed away over the weekend of September 5, 2026, at his farm in Port Royal, Kentucky. He was 92. If you don't know the name, he spent seven decades as a farmer and writer defending everything modern life keeps trying to talk us out of: small farms, local food, community, hard work, care. In 1989 he wrote, “I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act.” His target was the word “consumer.” The moment you see yourself as a consumer instead of a participant in how food gets made, you stop asking where it comes from. That ignorance is exactly what the industrial food system needs to operate.
His fix was not that everyone should grow their own food. It was a shift in posture. Our tip to honor him is to pick one upcoming meal and know where every single thing in it came from, including the fat you cooked it in and the salt you finished it with. Some of that will take you five seconds. Some of it will have you reading a label or a sourcing page longer than you expected, and that second kind is where you learn something.
In his words, “A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one's accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes.”
Dr. Paul on the truth about using nicotine in 2026
For 50 years we were told nicotine was the villain. Now it's a “wellness supplement” in a little white pouch, endorsed by podcasters and stocked in office vending machines. The company selling it is Philip Morris, the same one that engineered Marlboros to hook faster. Both stories were designed to sell you something.
In his latest video, Paul walks through the full history of nicotine and what the research actually says about the “smart drug” claims. Here's what he covers:
The chemical trick that made Marlboro the most addictive product in history
Why a 30-year nicotine researcher says it does nothing for a healthy, well-rested brain
What happens to your dopamine after 12 weeks of use, and why the “boost” is withdrawal relief
Nicotine's effects on heart, blood vessels, and deep sleep, regardless of delivery method
The harm hierarchy and Paul's 3-3-3 rule for quitting
We can't make this stuff up. Researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have presented a protein cookie that started out as a plastic bottle. They break PET and crop waste down under heat and pressure, feed the resulting slurry to genetically engineered yeast, and the yeast produces the protein, fat, and flavor compounds that get 3D printed into a snack they are calling µBites. The project is funded by NASA and the NSF and was built with deep-space missions in mind. The team says the finished cookie contains no plastic particles, and nobody has been cleared to eat one yet.
Paul's take? We already spend real effort trying to keep plastic out of our bodies, and the research on microplastics showing up in human tissue is why. Reasonable people can disagree about what an astronaut should eat three years into a mission. Let's hope nobody is going to be convinced that fixing the food supply here on earth starts with printing cookies out of soda bottles. Eat real food.
Where we share science-backed insights, breaking news, and actually useful and actionable tips on real food and clean eating.
Healthy, without the perfection
Megan Livingston · Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
An author and content creator. For Megan, it's about the small swaps you'll actually stick with, not overcomplicating it. Her approach? Real food, plenty of protein, time outside, a lower-tox home, and consistency over perfection.
Nose to tail isn’t a trend. It’s not wasting the animal.
Most collagen powder is Type I from bovine hide. One part of the animal, one type of collagen. Ours starts with grass-fed bovine collagen and adds trachea, scapula, and eggshell membrane, which brings Types I, II, and III along with the hyaluronic acid, elastin, and glycosaminoglycans that only show up when you use more of the animal instead of less. Vitamin C from acerola cherry is in there because your body needs it to make collagen. No fillers, no artificial ingredients, every batch third-party tested for purity and heavy metals.
For most of human history, using the whole animal wasn't a philosophy. It was how you showed respect for something that died so you could eat. The parts nobody wants to look at are usually where the good stuff is.
Quote of the week
“There is no connection between food and health. People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are healed by the health industry, which pays no attention to food.”
Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community (1993)
This article is educational and is not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before starting any supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or managing a health condition. Statements on this page have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Lineage products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The studies cited test specific preparations and doses, and individual results may vary.
