June 1, 2010
Inviting Writing: Fear of Artichoke-ing
Ready for another chapter of Inviting Writing? Our theme this month is “food and fear.” Some people need food to get over certain fears; others need to get over their fear of certain foods. And some people, like writer Elizabeth Bastos (aka blogger Goody Bastos), have rather frightening imaginations…
Artichoke-ing
By Elizabeth Bastos
Courtesy Flickr user Thomas Hawk
“The artichoke is a flower that you eat,” my mom told me when I must have been about eight. “But, you have to be careful—” she said, pausing for maximum drama, “inside all those leaves there is a choke.”
A choke?
“If you don’t get all those little spiky leaves and hairs out, you could choke on them, that’s why they call it the choke.”
There was that word again. Choke! This was a dish that had possible death at its heart. Plus…it really had a heart. Is there anything more terrifying than a vegetable with a heart? It made the artichoke seem animate, mammalian. Maybe it even nursed its young; who knew?
So when my mom said, “Here, have a bite. Take a bite of this sweet and tasty heart, it’s the best part,” I absolutely could not. I had been learning about cannibalism; Call It Courage was my 2nd-grade required reading (I wonder now who on earth thought that was a good idea. It’s about a young boy fleeing from Pacific Island cannibals who presumably want to rip out and roast his heart).
I began to be afraid every time my mom served artichokes, even afraid of the benign pool of silken, lemony Hollandaise sauce that came with them. Either someone was going to choke or a heart would be eaten, and somehow, horrifyingly, it would not be a big deal!
Of course, now that I am an adult, I feel the fear and do it anyway. Artichokes are a spring delicacy I look forward to. And, vegetable cannibal that I am, I think the heart drenched in lemon butter is the best part. It’s worth risking everything for.
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I am so very glad to see Elizabeth Bastos here. She is one of my favorite writers. She is brilliant and funny, and I a a huge fan. I hope to see more of her writing here.
Love it. Brilliant.
And I thought “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” was scary. Fun and engaging read, thank you.
Lovely post! I really appreciated the full-size artichokes I could buy for $1 each this spring, out here on the West Coast. Almost as good as the price in my grandfather’s favorite pun: “Artie chokes two for a dollar.” I recommend this stuffed artichokes recipe from the Portland-based food site Culinate: http://www.culinate.com/search/q,vt=top,q=artichokes/31036.