I just read a fascinating (written so nicely!) article in the New Yorker Magazine about the new food substitute Soylent Green . They claim you can live entirely on this stuff, but never mind that. I’m writing about the book connections.

First of all, when they described the 1973 movie with the same name a light bulb turned on in my weary brain! Images from that movie have been seared onto my brain, but I could not remember the name of it. I saw it years ago! What an ending! I was then surprised to discover that despite its age, our sons (both in their early haven’t watched it though (I’m adding “yet”). I hadn’t known that the movie was based on a book.

The founder said he didn’t want to change the name, despite the negative connotation of the movie. In the article he explains the benefits of the name and then sums up

“Anyway, a lot of young people never got the memo about Soylent Green’s being people….Remember Starbucks was the guy from “Moby Dick”!

OOPS!

Guilty.

I didn’t know that.

I began Moby Dick when I was a teenager and never went back to finish it. I did not recall that Starbucks was the first mate on the ship at all. I most certainly think of the coffee chain when I hear the name. I’m glad the founders of Starbucks dropped the idea of naming the company Pequod (the name of the ship). Starbucks has a better ring to it!

Note: Although I gripe sometimes about the waste time of cooking is, I can’t see myself living on that stuff!