Quotes from The Omnivore's Dilemma

On the industrial farm, it takes about ten calories of fossil fuel energy to produce one calorie of food energy.  That means the industrial farm is using up more energy than it is producing.  This is the opposite of what happened before chemical fertilizers.  Back then, the Naylor farm produced more than two calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil fuel energy invested.  In terms of energy, the modern farm is a losing proposition.  It's too bad we can't drink petroleum directly -- it would be more efficient.

TBHQ is a form of butane (lighter fluid).  Eating a single gram of TBHQ can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse."  Ingesting five grams can kill you.  But the government allows food makers to spray a tiny amount of this on your food to preserve it.

- Michael Pollan, "The Omnivore's Dilemma" (Young Reader's Edition)