Store-bought is fine with me, since I'm not going to be eating it anyway.

But didn't I read somewhere that Jefferson & Co. plagiarized the Declaration of Independence from Locke's "Inquiry Concerning Civil Government"?

Last Sunday was my kid's 40th birthday bash. She asked me to bring "my" German potato salad because it's one of her favorites.

"Where did you get this," asked one gal as she and several others were heaping their plates with seconds.

"Aah, in my kitchen," I replied. The look was incredulous.

Garrison, you are so right. Books with pages and potato salad with homemade written on it. There are some things I don't wanna change...

Since my kid's favorite potato salad is made WITHOUT mayo -- due to many things including the 100-degree weather we too often have in No. CA -- here's my version of German Potato Salad, BUT made with turkey bacon. If you want the original with the real pig fat, there are dozens of recipes on the Internet....or in a real cookbook with real pages (preferably with stains on them).

Here's mine:

German Potato Salad (with turkey bacon, which saves a lot of fat calories)

(Serves 8 – 10)

• 9 med. large potatoes – I use unpeeled yellow potatoes

• 8-9 slices turkey bacon

• 1 cup chopped onions, more or less

• 2 T. flour

• 2 T. sugar

• 2 tsp. salt

• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 3/4 cup water

• 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar

• Dab of concentrated chicken broth (comes in a little box)

• Chopped green onions for top garnish

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 30 minutes. Drain, cool and slice thin.

Lightly oil a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven and add turkey bacon. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown, but not black. Remove and cut into small pieces.

In same pan, after slightly cooled, whisk together the leftover “drippings,” flour, sugar, salt and pepper (think roux) with the water, vinegar and the dab of concentrated broth. Cook and stir until it starts to thicken. Lower heat and carefully return bacon and sliced potatoes to the mixture, stirring gently until potatoes are heated through and coated. Garnish and refrigerate, if you wish, but we like it served room temperature.

My mother made the best potato salad and we were always glad to see summer come around so we could have it. I make it myself now, and the secret is marinating the potatoes for several hours, or overnight, in a simple viniagrette. If you're adding sweet onions and celery, marinate them with the potatoes, too. Fresh chives are another nice addition. And real Hellman's, of course! I now use little red potatoes that take about 20-25 minutes to cook, then cut them in half with the skins still on. I'm going home to whip up a batch.

"We can't protect our world if citizens are so insulated from it that they have never seen a fish with the head and scales on"

In China, a fish with the head cut off is considered ugly. It is served intact looking exactly like what it is - a fish. People there are more comfortable with natural food than with the highly processed junk we buy here. Also, they know how to cook and are willing to do it.

Best potato salad I've ever had was made with roughly chopped fingerling potatoes, fresh dill, olive oil, a dash of paprika, boiled eggs, onion, and really good quality black olives. Still warm, the potatoes are doused with vinegar and refrigerated until cold. Add all the other ingredients, give it a mix and let it sit for a couple of hours. Light and awesome.

Most of the Keillor critics miss the point of his homespun language. Its that Americans are becoming more and more disconnected from the world around them.

Think of any culture -- French, Mexican, Italian, Cajun, Chinese, Indian -- and doubtless the first thing that comes to mind is the food. Food is the linchpin of every culture. A culture that has no cuisine is in the process of going out of existence.

People don't cook anymore, and this is a serious problem. We don't know what goes into our mouths, so how can we relate to our environment, which needs us more than ever?

Go back and look at the Salon page. The lead story is about overfishing. Overfishing occurs because food processing is an industry, instead of an event in the home.

Did it bother me when Keillor talked about letting the torturers off? Sure it did. But give me choice between sending Bush to jail and teaching every American to make a mean potato salad and I will choose the latter. We can't protect our world if citizens are so insulated from it that they have never seen a fish with the head and scales on.

Good cooking makes a home. You can't build community and family in a restaurant. So stop carping about Bush and go home and cook for your family like caring Americans do.

I learned how to make tater salad when I was a college student working in a prep kitchen. Our salad went to a fancy restaurant that liked to serve the humble dish now and then for some reason. Anyway we always added some black walmuts at the very end, and mixed them in well. We also used white pepper, which has a slightly more punchy zing than black pepper.

Absolutely awesome.

And yeah, the torture issue... but you7 can't change the world every day, just give yourself a break now and then for cryin out loud.

Orchids

Garrison,

Loved your article on potato salad. I have to admit, we've gone the easy route and grabbed the plastic bucket at Costco far too often. But not everybody has a flair for cooking, so for example, living here in California and longing for a good Upper Peninsula pasty, I wait until winter and then order some pasties online (pasty.com - they don't ship in summer because they pack them in dry ice and use ground shipping). But they're hand crafted by the old-timers in Calumet, MI, the old fashioned way. Takes me back.