Drowning in Salt Then Sour Then Sweet

From a Persian restaurant in Doha, Qatar. Not as good as my mother-in-law's, but that's a given.

My favorite food growing up:
Pizza.
A personal pan pizza
from Pizza Hut.

I also appreciated the other pieces 
of international flair in rotation:
cheese quesadillas and, sometimes,
hard-shell ground-beef tacos.

Plus:

cheeseburgers,
grilled cheese with watery tomato soup, 
and fried chicken
(KFC Extra Crispy, only).

The only acceptable drink:
Coca-Cola.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
As a snack and on the bedside table at night.

I don’t know how my body survived childhood.
My taste buds nearly didn’t.

But once I stopped drowning everything
in sugar, salt, and fat,
food came alive.

I could actually taste what I was eating.

Nature’s long cultivation of sweetness
in an heirloom tomato,
so unlike the watery blandness
sold to us as “tomato.”

The subtle delicacy
of a white peach or piece of sashimi.

The deluge of flavors
in a good mole, banh mi, or tom yum.

Even broccoli has a tinge of sweetness.

And when I stop drowning life
in layers of concepts and judgments,
I can taste life.

The bitter is not so bad.
I can appreciate a good sour.

Sometimes,
I even find life
sweet.

---

Title borrowed from “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” by Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile and Andrea Gibson.

If this resonates, I’d love to hear from you. A comment, a share, or even just a like goes a long way. Writing into the silence is its own practice, but knowing the work lands makes it easier to keep showing up.

Post #67, Challenge Day #71