(article, Culinate staff)
So last week the New Yorker published its annual food issue, cramming the print version with such articles as an exploration of the underground world of Sandor Katz and his fermented-foods quest and a painful family memoir by Chang-Rae Lee. Not much of this was available online, unfortunately, and neither is this week's wacky food story, about the possible deification of global economist and food-reform activist Raj Patel. Patel, who would much rather be left alone as an ordinary guy instead of a pan-deity known as Maitreya, just can't win: bq. Patel's disclaimer only agitated his acolytes, many of whom interpreted it as further proof that Patel was Maitreya after all, the humble savior deferring recognition in a soft of crafty P.R. move. . . . Like George Costanza's girlfriend, on "Seinfeld," Patel's followers refused to accept that he didn't want to be in a relationship with them. His rejection only increased their devotion.