"The average American is nine meals away from acts of desperation."
This saying is usually credited to Alfred Henry Lewis (1855–1914), a U.S. journalist, novelist, and political Commentator. One early version appears in his 1896 writing in the New York Journal, in which he wrote: “the only barrier between us and anarchy is the last nine meals we’ve had.”
The meaning of this metaphor (or aphorism) is that if people go without food for some number of meals, their desperation might push them toward crime, unrest, or breakdown of social order.
The generalization “nine meals from anarchy” is not a precise scientific law. It is a vivid rhetorical device emphasizing how fundamental food is to maintaining social order.
Of course the desperately hungry people have several options:
1,) They can just take up the slack in their belts and "tough it out," until the good times roll.
2.) They can pray for the marvelous Manna from Heaven that God delivered to the followers of Moses in the desert, according to the Bible.
3.) They can "liberate" food from the hands of their neighbors by force if need be.
4.) They can turn to cannibalism as prudent and necessary.
5.) They can put themselves under bondage or slavery by kissing the butt of some dictator for food.
(Bob Mrotek 2025)
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