One of the virtues of living in a free society is knowing that no matter how curious, bizarre, or even outrageous one may find another’s personal behavior, there should be no recourse to government to force the behavior to stop. Under capitalism, individuals, families, and friends can choose to live in communes if they wish. Under socialism, people can’t choose to live in free communities. Score one for capitalism.

So with that feature of American freedom duly noted — and the increasing threats to such freedom duly noted, as well — please allow me to poke some gentle fun at the voluntary choices of two fellow Americans. As described in a recent Christian Science Monitor feature, two cohabitating teachers of “English and social justice” decided to live for one month out of each year eating on a daily food budget of about $1 a day. They did so in part as a reaction to their hard monthly food bills (as vegans, they found themselves eating a lot of organic produce, which can be pricey) and in part as a gesture of solidarity with the world’s poor.

The result was a storehouse of bins and sacks filled with cornmeal, rice, beans, potatoes, and all the ingredients necessary for making “wheat gluten steaks,” served with chopped onion and chili flakes.

Probably no harm done, though I do wish people would familiarize themselves with the concept of purchasing price parities before trying to translate statistics such as the international poverty rate into an American standard of living. Moreover, it turns out that some critics thought the two teachers were still giving in to commercialism too much:

They could not afford fruits and vegetables. Other than some lemons pilfered from a neighbor’s tree, the only fresh fruit or vegetables they ate came from Costco, and that only after a heated 20-minute debate about whether they could shop there, because it requires a membership fee of $50.
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There are some critics, of course. One chastised the couple for living off peanut butter and Tang (which they drank for the vitamin C) when they could “forage for really wonderful things” instead. “Pine needles are a better source of vitamin C than oranges, which are everywhere!