Skip to main content

Food

Image
By
This is a chapter from my third book called Love letters

Our love affair with food started from the beginning of humankind when Eve could not resist the deliciousness of that rosy apple. It is human nature to love food. It is necessary for our survival. We cannot live without food. When we eat food, our brains release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is associated with pleasure and reward. Food is often associated with culture, traditions and celebration. What is Eid without sawine or Divali without curry or Christmas without pastelle or Carnival without pelau?

Our love and need for food means we have to grow lots of it. My first experience with growing food started in primary school when we learnt to plant red beans in a container with toilet paper. We tended to our beans and watched them grow with amazement. We could have been the future farmers of our country for all we know. I did not become a farmer but in my adult years I have experimented with different crops in my home garden like pumpkin, ochro, tomato, bodi and pimento. From the pimentos I would make a delicious and fresh hot sauce.

I like my belly. I don't like having a belly and some abs would look nice on me though. They say a hungry man is an angry man and no one wants to be that angry man so we show our food some love. I love the convenience of food delivery apps. The wonders of the internet and technology has made it easier to show our food some love. I once had a food blog where I wrote about my escapades with cooking food. My love for food is also local for the usual like doubles, roti and pelau. Who can resist a bake and shark once they have gone to Maracas beach? How about corn soup from the Savannah?

Food is like a friend. For example, the down times when ice cream was there to pick me up like that Hagen Daz brownie macchiato. When money is tight we have to be creative and flexible with what we eat. Crix and cheese and Milo. Sada roti and fry aloo. Corn beef and macaroni. Dumplings and dasheen bush bhagi. They say we should eat to live and not live to eat. This is good advice and calls for some tough love. Everything in moderation and balance is the key. They say we are what we eat. Well I am delicious. I am a snack. Oh yeah, I can be funny too.

Growing up I loved snacks. Corn curls and cheese balls and Bongo and kiss cake were my regulars. My mom tells me that I used to tell her that my brain could not function without the snacks when I was studying for school so she had to run quick quick by the parlour and trust some snacks. Food brings people together. Cesar Chavez has said that, "If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him … The people who give you their food give you their heart." All this talk of food has made me hungry. My stomach growls a serenade to the food I love.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mental health matters

By
It is 547am and I have decided to write. I have been living with a mental health diagnosis for more than 23 years. I am differently abled. Mental illness sometimes presents itself as a non-visible disability. A person with mental illness may look and function normally. Added to that we do not get to see the struggles happening internally. After 23 years I could say that I have much experience with my condition and may be able to offer words that may help others. There is plenty of stigma associated with mental illness. People think that the mentally ill are bad people, weak, or somehow less deserving of dignity and the treatment of the illness sometimes feels like punishment and is dehumanizing at times. There is plenty of good intentions and well meaning as well (do not get me wrong) but things could be better. And it happens at the highest level. A leader once said, "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad." As the saying goes, who knows it feels it. I started a pr...
2 comments
Read more

Drums of freedom

By
It is 401am and I have decided to write. This Saturday, Trinidad and Tobago observes African Emancipation Day. It is a day to celebrate the journey to freedom and to honor those who sacrificed so much so that we could enjoy the freedoms we have today. Yet the journey is not over. As we celebrate how far we have come, let us also ask God to open our minds and hearts to the struggles that continue. Freedom is never something we should take for granted. Every day, we witness powerful interests around the world attempting to stifle freedom in pursuit of their own agendas and self-aggrandizement. Too often, they seek to divide in order to conquer. May we resist division with wisdom, courage, and compassion. May unity triumph over hatred, truth over deception, and love over fear. As we remember the past, may we also commit ourselves to protecting the freedoms of the present and building a more just future for generations to come. Happy African Emancipation Day. May God continue to guide us o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Love and joy

By
It is 230pm and I have decided to write. I have no topic but I want to write. I am thinking about God. I am thinking about life. I am grateful for God and life. I need a writing prompt. My friend Chatty gave me a pretty verbose prompt. Sit quietly for a moment and imagine that God asks you only one question: "What have you noticed?" Don't answer with theology. Answer with your life. What have you noticed about joy? About fear? About the way people love? About silence? About time? About your own heart? Where have you sensed God—not in miracles, but in ordinary moments? Where have you struggled to find Him? What has life been teaching you that you were too busy to hear before? Write honestly. Don't try to reach a conclusion. Let the page become a conversation rather than an argument. I immediately noticed the light streaming through the window that allows me to see the world. My first thought was how much we take things for granted. It is easy to feel lacking. To feel s...
Post a Comment
Read more