i overheard them
con-ver-sating,,
a note of superiority
had been struck..
dropping catch words
like, sustainable,
free range, organic,
grown locally, and such..
and i could tell
from the tone of
their voices,,
they had thought
about it,, a lot..
about how elevated
above the masses
their pallets had become
and how their
cutting edge
elitist eating
set them
oh, so high above-
the young mother
struggling to feed her kids
in who’s apparent
ignorance and
lack of foodie education-
still chose to fill
their hungry bellies
with pork and beans
and mac and cheese
and various (gasp) fat laden
sugary confections….
photo:
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 am
i love the statement this poem made. if only there wasn’t such a wide divide
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:55 am
Thank you for writing this poem Paisley, amazinging true how
arrogant some mothers, who have the time, help, and education
can be working with children and hence their parents has become
a real eye-opener, as to what is really feasible in another’s life,
that someone else takes for granted.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:01 am
I do feed my kids healthy food (I’m lucky enough to be able to afford it and to be educated on the subject) but people have just gone too far, usual pendulum swing, some food militia type actually said to me the other day ‘you let them eat chips, but they’re loaded with salt’. Hey, everybody loves chips (or crisps as we call em)…….get a life. Nice write.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 am
oh so true… people now judge each other on the contents of their shopping cart..
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:58 am
I love the poem, and how the photo matched it. When I read this I wondered why those who know don’t teach those who don’t.
-Nicole
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
good one–liked this
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Pork and beans sounds good to me. This made think a lot about that FAO congress they’re having — is it in Italy?
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
A great poem! I can’t stand sanctimonious people, always ona moral soapbox, whether it’s the “green” people or the fundamentalists, either way they’re tough to communicate with.
When my kids were little I fed them healthy food, and I still do when I can. But as my husband jokes, once you’ve gone over to the dark side, there’s no going back! He means hotdogs, pizza, hamburgers, all the food kids love.
Not everyone can afford free-ranging chickens and Angus beef, organic veggies and all the rest.
A great piece, paisley.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
This is excellent. Great poem, great topic - I’m so sick of this kind of stuff. Thanks for writing this piece.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
So much truth in your words. It is a sad commentary that so many cannot eat the “right” foods because they are lucky to have anything at all.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Those Marinites are so,,,so,,,sooo ahggghhh I can’t stand it!!
From BMWs to Trust Fund babies to Birkenstock footwear…!
Even after all my traing in acceptance, and diversity and brotherhood…
Sometines,
I just go BEZZZERK!!!!
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
OH and Smokin’ Avatar -
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
This is intense.
Really good write. Sorry I’ve been gone.
Shit happened, plus I was out of state.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Great message in your poem. People can take a good thing too far and forget about people who can’t afford staples. I’m especially concerned with food waste too.
“Tart” did a beautiful job! You look gorgeous!
June 4th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Paisley. I tried to go to your post ‘Inheritance’ fromCafe Writing and reached a site selling paisley merchandise.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Great title. The ones who can buy the good stuff and the ones who can’t are both formed by the same sick system. And struggle is at the heart of that system. It’s not just struggle, it’s a war.
June 4th, 2008 at 6:29 am
I totally agree. I cant with the All Organic “I only shop at Whole Foods” people. Its like..hey ASSHOLE, don’t you know that some people are literally starving. to death. GAH.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:46 am
We all look at the world through our own eyes and too often our eyes are shortsighted and we judge harshly–we don’t look at the individual and her circumstances but classes and subjective personal biases
the picture had me captivated; the poem was great as always
June 4th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Whew! Resident foodie here wondering who’s going to throw the first organic tomato at me. Excellent words, as always, paisley and quite the match with the photo. I’m thinking one of the biggest problems we have with people eating crap is parents who are rushing around so much they don’t have time to cook real food — IF they know how to cook. Everything comes in a box. And because I feel like I spend half my life in a grocery store, I can say that packaged, ready to eat food is a lot more expensive than plain old simple produce and a bag of pasta. So are drive-throughs hamburger joints. Time is the real culprit. And ignorance.
Your words do force memories of how hard my mother worked to put food on our table by herself, teaching us to eat simply, avoid waste, and appreciate what was on our plates because others had none. It took quite a number of years before I realized we were quite poor. I had no idea.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
JODi!! IS THAT YOUR REAL GORGEOUS FACE IN THE PAISLEY PHOTO???
YOU are BEAUTIFUL!! So happy to see the face that goes with the soulful heart!
you look like a brunette Brittany Spears… She is a wacko yes, but we can’t deny her beauty~
haha
I LOVE your thick mane!!! Can I give you a trim??
As for your poem…
Was that my health crazy son you over heard in aisle 1?
he only shops the outside edges of the food store, then
looks in MY pantry and criticizes my cookie and chip aisle things!! haha
I love him anyway, he has gotten in great shape being food conscious.
Others unfortuantely, cannot afford the ‘good’ foods. It’s a shame
that they make it cheaper to eat unhealthy.
great poem Paisley! re-read this poem I wrote on the same topic…
http://luluspetals.blogspot.com/2008/03/rising-prices.html
June 4th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
OMG, Paisley! this poem is HUGE!
June 4th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
This is a beautiful poem. Like all of your work, it is full of emotion and meaning. Really nicely done.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Your new avatar is even better than the previous one. My son thinks it looks really COOL. (High praise, indeed.) It seems often so hypocritical that we blather on about organic this, and macrobiotic that, and omega threes and triglycerides, low GI, blah, blah, bloomin’ blah, when there are people dying of starvation who would happily eat our scraps; or impoverished people struggling to get a loaf of white bread on the table for their kids. The food situation in our world is wrong and out of control and you have captured that so well in your poem. Excellent.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Its so funny you wrote about this because I’ve been appointed the person at work - by our “sustainability consultant” - to see to it that all of the fruit we provide to our employees is organic, 100%! Now, I have nothing against being/eating healthily, but the motivation behind it in this instance is more about appearance than anything noble. Makes me less inclined to make it a priority.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
If this doesn’t strike social conscience I don’t know what will! Really blatant and powerful. Hope it makes a difference!
Hugs Giggles
June 7th, 2008 at 7:08 am
THis is yet another piece that speaks directly to my heart! I won’t waste time telling you why or how since more than 20 people already have - but know I don’t know anyone who could have said this better!!!
June 10th, 2008 at 7:09 am
very sad