As a rabid gourmand, I'd be lying if I said my stomach didn't leap a bit at their coming. And yet, because we have worked so hard to earn our own culinary place, there's also a parallel constriction of my heart, a burning twinge of protectionism.

Aren't Ducasse and Robuchon culinary carpetbaggers taking advantage of our Midwestern hospitality and standing upon the labor of our pioneers? Despite our success, the Tribune's Good Eating section still features a syndicated column from Wolfgang Puck. Hasn't Charlie Trotter or Paul Kahan at Blackbird earned a voice in our local pages? Legends, especially French demigods, cast long shadows, ones that may shroud our own identity.

I don't know how you feel, my brethren and sisters, but I'd rather be dead than to lose my liberty. I have no fear we'll ever lose it because of invasion from the outside. But I do have fear that it may slip away from us because of our own indifference, our own negligence, as citizens of this land. And so I plead w/ you this morning that you take an active interest in matters pertaining to the future of this country.