The following bit came about after a recent "brainstorming" session with Amy for her public speaking course. We started with the assigned topic of American Culture. She was looking at fad diets...then mentioned the topic is to be familiar to the audience, who will be our neighbors. I said"then we need to change the subject to Pastures and soft foods." I don't mean that in a bad way of course, just looking for common ground. Amy is in her mid 30s, I am mid 40s. The neighbors are 60-90ish. We live on a cul du sac off a highway just on the edge of town and our backyards are a pasture and a valley. Its definitely a retirement community. A very peaceful place to be. Then I realized, Instead of being put out to pasture ( a seemingly harmless phrase indicating somewhat assisted demise) , older people now live in nice houses in the very same pasture where someone or something else may not have had such a nice twilight of there life. Things have changed quite a bit in the last century. Back to the diet...I point out ,with our neighbors, the speech should be about the revolution of soft prepared foods over the last 100 plus years. It all started to gel. I am on this. I've finally figured out what the smart people have probably always known, but I'll pat myself on the back anyway. While I am mulling this over, Amy looks at a website about horrible ways to die, which adds to my bit. Apparently, being chewed on while alive made the list.... I now know why we as a people are fat,and living longer anyway. The whole story. Over the last 100 plus years, food is prepared beforehand. It tastes better. More important, its softer. The olden day Hard tack is inedible when you get older and your gums and teeth hurt. Meat was tougher. Worse yet , you had to catch and fight and prepare your food, and you never knew when you would actually win that battle. Going back to horrible ways to die..Creamy Peanut Butter even took a few people out.Peanut butter was always at least somewhat crunchy back in the day.The families in bear country used to make the kids draw for the short straw to go out and churn the peanut butter. Bears like peanut butter. Who doesn't? Creamy peanut butter was a delicacy to be savored, cause little Timmy gave his all to churn it that long. People live longer now, and eat more. It's simply because we now can chew the food and eat comfortably later in life. Rarely do the bears kill anyone at the Cosco when they are shopping for the peanut butter. Thank you for your time