Such mockery is cloying when some are going hungry on the planet
sold on more bling and gadgets, fakery and antics usurp belittles small joys in one's day by day revere & prayer turn ruckus: forgive us our trespasses (the prayer) that blow from the seven seas give us our daily bread (the ask) stale cheap as cheap can be forgive too, our inertia and our innate desire to whine - I'm bored, tell me something exciting - bread's not so rancid when soaked in cheap sweet wine © selmamartin.com
This poem was conceived from a prompt on nostalgia. Sort of part 2 of “I’m Bored,
She Said, They Said.” — yeah, that boring one!
Food brings me nostalgia. To be honest, the wasting of food, and the mockery of the sacredness of food gives me indigestion. And to explain this one I’ll need to take you
back to my upbringing. So pull a chair while I relay to you a story I carry.
Is there a particular food that brings you nostalgia, fills you with warmth, and
transports you to a place that smells like your childhood home? Most likely, there’s
such food, and there exists such a place, if only in your mind.
Soups are a classic contender that transcends cultures, yet, the great soothing food of
cultures is not limited only to soups.
What is your comfort food?
As for me, I was brought up eating kidney beans soup with salted pigtail. Yum. And to
this day, I rely on beans soup as great coping food for those times when nothing else
will do. When I make it for my family, the salted pigtail is substituted by smoked
ham or TVP (soy meat). It’s soothing and comforting still, and love it I do!
A hot bowl of soup
made with love in your kitchen
real comfort of home
Being raised Catholic, our good priests spoke of waste-not in every sermon, and the
biggest waste-not I grew up knowing had to do with food. And so, in line with what our
priests said, my siblings and I practically licked our plates clean.
Yes, ma’am. We learned from the grownups how to suck the tail bones clean — salted
pork tails, which you must already know hardly have much meat, to begin with — we
sucked and bit into them to extract the morrow as well. That’s how I learned to eat.
We wasted not.
We ate our share, aware of our connection to starving children somewhere in the
world, who, we were told, had no bones to suck on.
Knowing that we did what we could, was comforting, which added to the mindset of
what comfort foods do: they comfort!
“Food is everything we are.
It’s an extension of nationalist feelings,
ethnic feelings, your personal history,
your province, your region, your tribe,
your grandma.
It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.”
– Anthony Bourdain
All this said, to us, food was sacred. We never went without and never mocked or
wasted it. And today, it breaks my heart to see how food is wasted and taken for
granted in some countries, knowing families are going hungry on the planet.
How did this happen? Is it possible that food is not comforting to them? Is it perhaps
that we failed to teach our young this crucial message? Then, please, let’s.
Food is a nostalgic topic to me for this reason. Can you relate?
I wish we could instill the sacredness of food in our young, help them to appreciate
each bite come from Mother Earth, and, through this appreciation, have a future where
no one goes hungry. Ever!
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the mockery poem that resulted and my
thoughts on nostalgia. Written for Sky Collection’s prompt on Medium (free link).
Unsplash Image: Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash
I bless you and as always, I wish you miracles.
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My Dad told us to “take what (food) you want and eat what you take!” I still do not like to waste food so we often eat leftovers 🙂
Lessons that stay with us always. Xoxo
Great post! Made me think about how hotels are wasteful when it comes to their buffets. They throw everything away and never take it to a shelter! Blows my mind.
We don’t have a food shortage. We have a food distribution discrepancy—! When will we learn?? People are dying in the process. Thanks for commenting, Belladonna. Blessed Be.
I completely agree!
Selma, an important topic, reverence for food. It represents the efforts of many people who work to bring it to our stores. It is a shame to waste someone’s life’s work, especially when many people don’t have enough to eat.
Food is nostalgic. I enjoy making colorful salads and preparing vegetables like my father grew in his huge garden: leaf lettuce, tomatoes, squash, corn-on the cob, green beans, peas, broccoli…even popcorn. I love baked custard like my grandma used to make with fresh eggs from her hen house and the strawberries she was famous for growing and giving away. Of course, I am a chocoholic, though my fudge these days is low-carb. I no longer indulge in the fancy baked goods and homemade candies my mother prepared with love and skill, but I remember them fondly.
Preparing food is an expression of love. <3 So is writing beautiful, meaningful poems like yours, Selma.
Waste not, want not is what I have always heard Selma. This is such a beautiful post and I love your haiku. My heart jerked when I read the quote you posted from Anthony Bourdain. Oh, how I miss him. I always watched his show “No Reservations” and many episodes of “Parts Unknown.” So you connected to so many different aspects in the nostalgia of food. It irritates me when I see people waste food foolishly. Great post my friend. Thank you so much for touching our hearts. 🤗🥣😍🍗🥰🍸😊🍦
Glad you liked what I served 😜
Seriously, it irritates me to see this as well. In movies, TV dramas: waste is portrayed as a way to show disappointment, disgust. “Oh no, I’m not hungry,” and food goes into the bin! Again and again! Stop it. It’s insulting
Hunger is not an issue of scarcity; it’s a matter of logistics.
You’re not hungry?! Do NOT discard— give it to someone who’s hungry!
That surplus food goes into landfills and fills the air with toxic gases that harm our planet.
Waste not. Want not. We should all live the words. Thanks, Kym. Blessings.
I love your passion Selma because I feel the same way. There are so many folks out here struggling on top of the high prices of food to buy for their families. Yes girlfriend, it is frustrating to see occur! 😖🤬😠
I was raised the same way, Selma, and still try not to waste anything. And nothing like a pot of soup boiling and filling the apartment with delicious smells! (K)
Soups, right?! Soups are my go-to as well. Thanks, K. Blessings.
You’re absolutely right Selma! Wasting food, or time just leads us to a sadness created by our habits.
We should rectify bad habits. It hurts me to see food go to waste.
No more wasting please. Xoxo Sadje.
Indeed we should.
Very understandig advisable post. Most of people waste food. I do not like waste food. My mother prepared with love skills .
Nice meaningful poem. Amazing Haiku written you.
I like .
I’m so happy to hear you don’t waste food. It’s a sin to waste!
Also glad to hear you appreciate your dear mother’s lovely food. Stay sweet, Raj. Blessings.
Thank lots, Selma 😘
I see a lot of waste in the US. Sometimes I think the younger generations are on the right track with reusing products and reducing waste; other times I see them behaving more wastefully than ever before. There is a lot of variation depending on the person. We are in a rural area, so growing our own food and sharing and reusing what’s left is important to us. Thanks for sharing your lovely poem and insight.
Aww. I like what you say— a lot. We should be more appreciative of the food we have on our table. Need to be reverent of what the earth gifts us. Growing one’s own food is the best of the best. You’re lucky. Bless you. May we always have food XoXo
Thank you, Selma! I agree that we’ve been very fortunate to have the space to grow fresh food. Blessings to you, too. 🙂
I was raised on “waste not, want not” as well! With the hike in food prices in the past years, I’m really starting to value my food a bit more, and I hope it doesn’t get worse! Great message here!
Valuing food. Yes. Let’s. Let’s learn our lessons. And not waste. Perhaps now less of it will end up in landfills. We’re talking brood from Mother Earth. Even if it’s dirt cheap it’s still precious. Bless you, dear Tricia. I appreciate the comment. Xoxoxo
💗🌷💗
I love your poem, Selma, and especially a little about your upbringing around food and waste. I agree some people waste far too much food, particularly in wealthier countries. It’s so wrong when there are starving people in the world who would give their eye teeth for what we throw away. If we all made use of what we were blessed enough to have, the world would be a fairer place. I see some people in my neighbourhood disposing of large bags of food waste on bin collection days, and it makes me cross, but mostly sad. I, too, was brought up not to waste food; my parents didn’t have a lot of money (or at least, my father made sure my mother didn’t have enough to buy good food for us children and herself) – I’ve written about that before.
I’m glad our young people are being taught about the planet and how precious its resources are. Of course, many of us don’t waste food and thank goodness for that. (Reading your post reminds me of my maternal grandmother, who made me sit alone at the table, chewing on the gristle of a cheap cut of meat. I used to cry knowing everyone else had finished their food and was watching TV in the front room). I guess you could say – waste not, want not or similar words at that time. Thank you for sharing this valuable and thought-provoking post. Xx 💖
Great post and poem, Selma! A topic close to my own heart. I actually work in a social grocery that collects leftover food from supermarkets and redistributes it to families with a low income.