Jim Bovard

Sunni: As I've already mentioned, I've seen you speak a couple of times, and both times, you wound up your talk by pulling out a big cigar. You also make jokes about coping with the increasing loss of freedom by buying more guns, ammo, and alcohol. And I can totally imagine you sitting and pounding away at your keyboard while chomping a cigar ... but then you threw me for a loop when you told me about the peanut butter cake recipe you developed. Do you cook a lot?

Jim: I try to keep the cigar ashes out of the baking mixes. I cook some; depends on the mood, the occasion, which public figures have just been indicted, etc.

Sunni: Is baking what you like to do most when you do cook? Have a favorite cuisine or two? For me, cooking—especially baking, and now, candy-making—is an excellent way to work off stress.

Jim: I enjoy spicy food—Ethiopian, Greek, Thai, and American BBQ. If I am cooking, I am prejudiced against labor-intensive recipes. I enjoy torquing up a recipe to see how much of the kicker ingredient it can tolerate. I came across a recipe for French blueberry pancakes that works great if you roughly triple the amount of blueberries called for.

Sunni: I guess that prejudice is why you didn't mention Indian food, which I like a lot. And yeah, playing with recipes is great fun! You've also been very encouraging about the truffle business I'm starting. Would it embarrass you too much if I called my peanut butter truffle the Bovard or something like that? [laughs]

Jim: How much alcohol are you planning to include in that particular truffle?

Sunni: [laughs] I've seen several nut-based liqueurs, but peanut isn't one of them. Got any suggestions?

Jim: The Germans make excellent hazelnut liqueurs, but I doubt that peanut farmers in Georgia and Virginia are as booze-savvy as the Deutsch. I have been a peanut butter fanatic since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Savoring peanut butter is an excellent culinary prejudice for a freelance writer.

Sunni: I'm right there with you, as long as the peanut butter is high quality. The overly processed, sweetened goop most people think of as peanut butter is unpalatable to me. I think you sent me a couple of links for resources for natural nut butters that I've been wanting to try.

Jim: Absolutely: I am not recommending Skippy. I wandered into a natural foods store shortly before my first quarter of college, discovered natural peanut butter, and haven't looked back. Arrowheads Mills makes superb peanut butter. Whole Foods has a very good natural-type peanut butter that is priced reasonably. I have recently gotten into almond butter, and Trader Joe's has a superb almond butter that helps kickstart my mornings. Which reminds me—I should update my hit on the federal almond cartel.

Sunni: [laughs] Go after the sugar idiocy too while you're at it! Do you enjoy doing the book promotion gigs? Or have the interviews and callers gotten too predictable?

Jim: I often enjoy them. Some of the hosts are excellent; the hosts that have read all or parts of the book routinely provide the most enthusiastic comments on the work. It is sometimes fascinating to hear what resonates with listeners. I have been surprised at the response on some shows; any mention of U.S. torture still provokes a torrent of phone calls denouncing me for slandering the government, being un-American, etc. But I wasn't the one who made torture the official policy of the U.S. government. Some talk show hosts had me on in order to try to chop me off at the knees. Hopefully the ensuing verbal brawls made good listening.

Sunni: I imagine they do. It'd be a great resource if you could offer MP3s of your interviews, or have a page of links to audio files available from the shows themselves. Don't you love how I come up with more nonpaying work ideas for you? [laughs]

Jim: That is an excellent idea. I have a number of links scattered through the blog ... There are excellent libertarian hosts out there now: Bassmaster Brian Wilson in Toledo, Gardner Goldsmith in New Hampshire, and Charles Goyette in Phoenix and Air America. There are a number of other excellent hosts who are libertarian friendly, including Ron Smith, the top talk show host in Baltimore, and Jan Mickelson, the top talk show host in Iowa. Last I checked, the following links to shows are active. Aaron Zelman of Jews for the Presevation of Firearms Ownership kindly interviewed me on the new book [MP3]. Joy Cardin of Wisconsin Public Radio asked a lot of excellent questions—as did the callers—in a show I did back on January 25 [RM]. I had a heavy cold for both the JPFO and Wisconsin interviews; I don't usually sound that muddled.