Yevgeny Zamyatin — We [92]

The primitive peasants, prompted perhaps by religious prejudice, stubbornly clung to their “bread.” * But in the year 85 before the founding of the One State, our present food, a petroleum product, was developed. — Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, 92

Note

The chilling corporate euphemism ‘our present food, a petroleum product’ captures the novel’s specific brand of sterile, industrialized dystopia.