Munchies-Wise, W.W.J.D.

Neon Memes • In hopes of (eventually) prompting the most risible autopsy ever, I periodically indulge in a bag of Brim's Fried Pork Rinds from Bartlett, Tenn.'s Brimhall Foods Company (P.O. Box 34185, 901.377.9016). Beyond tickling an M.E. at some point, that periodic indulgence presents other, less terminal pleasures. At 99 cents per bag, for example, the pretax price point verges on irresistible. Moreover, the bag's proclamation of "0g TRANS FAT!"―beneath a merry cartoon porker sporting a black-and-white apron and a toque blanche―thrills me insofar as I fret over a snack possessing only slightly more nutritive value than Styrofoam. The average Brim's product most cheers me, though, in its tacit solicitude for my spiritual welfare. More specifically, the back of each bag bears a Biblical quotation―like "JOHN 3:16 For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Others might find that practice tacky if not downright tawdry, tantamount to using Scripture to shill junk food. Not me, though. I celebrate the apparent piety of Brimhall's directors; moreover, not for a moment do I doubt that their pious ancestors nurtured the ravenous throng on Golgotha. ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor