Do you have a favorite or interesting food moment in poetry or prose?
Near the end of his Ode on Melancholy, Keats gives a very physical image of melancholy itself:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight,
Veil’d Melancholy has her sov’ran shrine.
Though seen of none save whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine.
Bursting a grape by pressing the tongue against the roof of one’s mouth takes a little work—it is strenuous. When one does, one is rewarded first with the sweet nectar of the grape and then with the mouth drying tannins of the skin. The flavor combination is much more complex than a glass of juice. It is a melancholy experience, sweetness followed by a necessary astringency.
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Among prose works, I love the discussion of The Fry in Ciaran Carson's "Last Night's Fun." And Kate Christensen's novel "The Epicure's Lament" is full of delicious food talk.
ReplyDeleteAs for poems, in spite of its subject, not much can beat Burns's "Address To A Haggis." And Galway Kinnell pays tribute to Keats himself, and particularly to "To Autumn," in his very entertaining "Oatmeal," which you can read and listen to here: http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=2641
Good list. Nothing wrong with a good haggis, though. And Carson's anatomy of The Fry might just be one of the best recent pieces of food writing.
ReplyDeleteAs far as other media goes, after watch the great noodle western Tampopo, I drove all over LA at 2 in the morning looking for the perfect bowl of noodles. We didn't find it, but what we found was perfect for then.
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim . . . that whole stanza: Keats and his grapes!
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