ABSTRACT
Atthebeginningofhisnovel,TheMezzanine,NicholsonBaker's centralcharactervisitsasmallfoodchainoutletinNewYork, 'PapaGino's',wherehebuysacartonofmilk,andisoffereda strawbythecounterassistant,called'Donna',accordingtoher nametag.Hepauses,considersthequestionwiththekindof seriousnessthatpeopleusuallyreserveforquestionsoffoodand drink,anddecidesthattheanswer(psycho-parenthetically!) deservesafootnote.Therefollowsalong,ramblingandutterly absorbingfootnote,dedicatedtothequestionofwhyandwhen 'allthemajorstrawvendorsswitchedfrompapertoplasticstraws, andweenteredthatuncomfortableeraofthefloatingstraw' (Baker1988:4).InthecourseofthisfootnotedjourneyBaker touchesonseveralfacetsoftheconsumptionendofthemodern foodsystemthatreachintoourprivatelives,becomeritually embodiedindailylife,createfixationsandaversions,and ultimatelycorrespondwithmajorshiftsinfoodmanufacturing, humanlabourandrecreation.Itisatributetotheeleganceofthe author'sprosethatthisjourneyisundertakenwithoutceasing totakethesubjectseriously:wemayseektotrivializeour dependenceonfastfoods,butfastfoodsarenotinthemselves trivial.
