AN ODE TO FOOD
There’s many uses for food:
to be savoured,
to be eaten,
to combat grief and loneliness,
to drown out hateful comments.
Food for the soul,
the soul nourished by the millions of nutrients rushing through each mouthful, yet it is repulsed by the grouping of certain ingredients and accepts only certain tastes.
New is for the brave.
Food allows a form of cowardice, an acceptable non-acceptance of the unknown.
Food doesn’t discriminate, thus it accepts all sorts of methods and practices and allows the expression of the individual. A grain may be ground, thrown in scalding water, soaked for days, and yet it is at the core of itself, still a grain.
People are less forgiving and identities are swapped quicker than it takes to turn gari for soup.
Food is reconciliation, joy and celebration. Food is in the giving of the self, food is how we say welcome and thank you without saying the words. Food is commiseration, apology and bribery.
Perhaps the comparison of humans and food may seem harsh, but this is no mere ode to food; hot, savory, spicy, peppery, aromatic, dark and heavy on the tongue food; this is a lesson to be learnt from food.
Passing through the fire,
Unappealing to the eye and the taste buds,
A plate valued at six hundred percent of its original cost.
Perhaps, we too should not fear the fire.
Perhaps we will come out better, or perhaps we may come out with scars, like burnt dodo or overly caramelized onions.
Perhaps we may delight the senses like catfish peppersoup on a cold day, or not.
We may, or we may not.
But we should never be afraid.
Not of the fire, nor the water.
The End.
Guys!
I have no idea where this came from but it had to be written.
And I am sorta hungry too, all that fried chicken be causing me to salivate.
This photo belongs to Eghost on Pexels
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