How to End All Wars

I have figured out how to end war, all wars, once and for all. This is guaranteed to succeed. The only thing is, we have to persuade the world to do it.

Instead of war a cooking contest!

Focusing on the Middle East right now, American, Afghani, Iraqi, Irani, and Israeli mothers and wives – not professional chefs -- would cook their native foods. Delicious rice and vegetable dishes, homemade breads, incomparable desserts, cooked and served along with native wines. All guns would be put down. Instead of a negotiating table, everyone would sit down at a dining table. Toasts would be made.

Banners would be strewn across the world, and headlines would read: “May the best food win!"

The food would be judged on appearance, aroma, and taste. All would start equal.

A secret weapon might be a pinch of saffron, or a tablespoon of coffee, and the whole recipe not revealed, but there would be no committees to investigate. The food would be the thing.

Instead of a cry for more weapons or fewer weapons, the cry would be, “More food, please. Another slice of this, a morsel of that."

I happen to prefer wonderful homemade ethnic food, so I am inclined to think that the U.S. might not win the cooking contest.

But, of course, at the end of the cooking war, no one would care who won! Everyone’s stomach would be full, and everyone would have broken bread together, and countries woven together like challah bread.