A Culinary Revolution: The Stone Age Chef and His Trash Gathering Friends

"It's not a good idea," said Tani.

The three of them were huddled in the corner of the town hall, sitting on a couple of logs that had been stacked against the wall. Tani was a farmer, and he carried a scythe and wore a straw hat. Zoe was a garbage collector, and she carried a wooden ladder and wore a red bandanna. The third was Josh Greenpath, a well-known chef from New York City. He carried a large bag of groceries and wore sunglasses.

"Why not?" said Zoe, looking at Tani and ignoring Josh. "It's perfect."

"Because it is not," said Tani. "People won't like it."

"People loved my last dish," said Josh. "People always love my dishes. I made it using food that the restaurant threw away because it wasn't good enough."

"That was different," said Tani. "What you did before was different. If people find out about this, they will be upset."

"No one will find out about this," said Zoe. "No one can find out about this. No one even knows we're here. We'll have a lot of fun tonight."

"I'm not sure," said Tani. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"You're a farmer," said Zoe. "You love good food. You said so yourself."

"I don't like the idea of eating other people's garbage," said Tani, clenching his scythe. "It's disrespectful."

"Oh please, I eat garbage all the time," said Zoe. "Miss Bessie's is the best, and it's filled with garbage. I eat garbage all the time. I love it. I love it more than anything. I would eat garbage if it wasn't free."

"That's different," said Tani.

"How is it different?" said Josh. "You both eat garbage."

"It's different because I don't go to Miss Bessie's and collect it myself," said Zoe. "That's why it's different."

"This is the Stone Age," said Tani. "There is no Miss Bessie's."

"Exactly," said Zoe. "I eat it because it's left for me. It's perfectly fresh. I am perfectly taking advantage of waste."

"You are perfectly awful," said Tani.

"I know," said Zoe, grinning. She opened up the bag of groceries, revealing lettuce, shrimp, chicken, and all sorts of other ingredients. "What do you think?"

"I am not sure," said Tani. "This is the Stone Age. There is no olive oil."

"There is!" said Josh. "I went to the store and bought everything we needed. I was very careful. I used what they had. It's all in here."

"I don't know," said Tani.

"You love cooking," said Zoe. "You said so yourself."

"I love cooking," said Tani. "I just think this might not be the right time."

"Please?" said Zoe. "We have all the ingredients. This is going to be great. It's going to be wonderful. You are going to be thrilled."

"We?" said Tani. "Who is we?"

"You and me," said Zoe, pointing at him and then at herself. "We are we."

"Why is there a we?" said Tani. "I don't understand why there is a we."

"Because we are a we," said Zoe. "We are a very good we. We are the best we."

"Why are we the best we?" said Tani.

"Because we are!" said Zoe.

"I just don't understand why we are a we," said Tani. "I don't like it."

"Look," said Josh, putting down the bag of groceries. "This is your decision. If you don't want to do it, fine. You don't have to do it. You don't have to help us. You don't have to eat the food. I'm sure Zoe and I will be fine by ourselves. It's just that we've spent the whole day cooking this food. We've spent the whole day planning this dinner. We've spent the whole day working hard. And now we've finally got it all ready, and we just want to cook it. We just want to eat it. We just want to enjoy it. We don't want to give up. But if you don't want to do it, that's fine."

"No, I want to do it," said Tani. "I do want to do it. I do want to cook it with you. I do want to eat it with you. I just don't want to eat garbage. I think that's unfair to me."

"But it's not garbage," said Zoe. "It's food. Real food. It's delicious food. If you eat it, you are going to eat delicious food. It's just food from a different place. It's just a different type of food. That's all."

"That's all?" said Tani.

"Yes," said Zoe.

"But it's garbage," said Tani. "It's food that people threw away."

"But it's still food," said Zoe.

"That's bad," said Tani. "That is very unfair."

"It's not unfair," said Zoe. "It's just food. It's just different. But it's still food. It's still delicious."

"I don't know," said Tani.

"We'll make it right," said Zoe. "We'll cook it right. We'll show everyone that it's still good. We'll show them that it's still delicious. We will. I promise you that."

Tani looked at her and then looked at Josh.

"She's right," said Josh. "She's right. It's going to be wonderful. I know it is. I can feel it. I can feel it in my heart. I can feel it in my soul. I can feel it in my bones."

"I don't know," said Tani.

"Fine," said Zoe. She placed the groceries back in the bag and zipped it up. "Fine. Do what you want. But I'm going to cook it. And I'm going to eat it by myself. It's going to be great. I know it is. I just know it."

"I don't think it will be great," said Tani. "I don't think it will be very good."

"You'll see," said Zoe. "You'll see."

Josh looked at the two of them, smiling.

"We'll be fine," he said. "Don't worry. We'll be fine. We'll get through this. We'll get through this together."