This is perhaps the most famous line in the essay. It is in this sentence that Swift grounds the gastronomical side of his satirical “modest proposal” that the people of Ireland should eat their young. Swift introduces this idea in the most shocking way possible with his claim that one-year-old babies are “delicious” whether they are “stewed, roasted, baked or boiled.” The image of a baby in a fricassee or a ragout is equally horrifying and absurd. The idea is so extreme that it demonstrates the overall irony of the piece. It is also worth noting that this line comes late in the essay. Swift lulls the reader into a false sense of trust in the narrator's good intentions by beginning with descriptions of the position of the poor in Ireland. The reader may think at first that this is a serious essay, making the point all the more jarring when it eventually appears. The idea itself comes from "a very knowing American," suggesting something of the wild barbarism of the Americas and American colonies