ONE BODY – ONE FLESH

I love food and food loves me.  It’s like we are married, united, one body, one flesh.  I really understand the one body one flesh union as I look at it every morning when I am preparing to go to work.  It is a mass of hills and valleys from top to toe going nowhere but everywhere at one in the same time in its complexity.  Boy!  That’s really deep.

I honor all food kingdoms.  My favorite ones are the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the fish kingdom, the vitamin kingdom, the mineral kingdom, and the insect kingdom.  I have to include the insect kingdom because one time I ate a chocolate covered ant.  It was delicious.  Chocolate enhances everything.

Growing up my favorite dog Sammy was my trusted companion.  He loved unconditionally and was my true confidant.  He knew all of my secrets but never said a word to anyone.  He also ate milk bones.  We both shared one on occasion.  It, too, was delicious and I figured if it was good enough for Sammy it was good enough for me.  I don’t know what food kingdom that would be, but who cares!  It was a total bonding experience.

In the animal kingdom I like beef, pork, and chicken the best.  I never acquired a taste for lamb.  I tried it a few times, but what lamb in its right mind would say, “Serve me with mint jelly.”  I like rabbit, too. It tastes like chicken.  Doesn’t everything?   One time my father shot a few squirrels and Mom just had to cook them.  Believe me, they were tougher than beef jerky and they did not taste like chicken!  So much for that theory.

Vegetables are part of my diet. Growing up we had wonderful gardens every summer and grew a variety of delicious vegetables.  One veggie we did not grow was Brussels sprouts.  If there is one vegetable that I really do not care for it is Brussels sprouts.  I have tried to eat them many times and have some super recipes for cooking them, but the only problem is they still taste like Brussels sprouts.  Now I like some of the other foods in the Cultivar family such as cabbage, collard greens, broccoli and kale. Poor Brussels sprout.  It makes me sad to have to reject you from my diet.  Maybe a little poem will help to sooth my distaste for you.

ODE TO THE BRUSSELS SPROUT
Oh my little Brussels sprout so round, so firm, so fat
Growing on a stalk of green rising up to the blue, blue sky
Proudly sharing your budding beauty for all to marvel at
Knowing that our friendship wavers makes me sigh
I wish we could be friends my little cabbage mini-me
But every time I eat you it makes me want to flee.
Will we ever bond in our culinary expression?
Can I ever hope for you to be my favorite veggie?
These are my honest thoughts and true confession