The Mandarin Orange

And, what was the most disgusting food you ever ate?

This is an assignment from our Creative Food Writing course, as we observed an orange. To be honest, the instructor simply asked to write a description of the fruit, but my words seemed to fall easily into poetry. Just for fun on a Sunday morning.

Mandarin Orange

The concave base of the mandarin
Reflects the rectangle room light
As a circle
Like a selfie light
And the fruit offers us
Its best cheeky pose

Scratching away the shiny
I prompt the skin to release
A honey flower
The faint shadow of
When it was first picked from the tree

The orange sheds its dimpled jacket easily
Revealing a wonky fishnet
Of orange-white fibers

The segments start to split
And separate
On their own
Ready for their
Individuality

After a lifetime of togetherness
The collection of individual segments
Arrive with their own jacket
Dimpled
Easily peeled

The color of a warm summer day
The segments inside
Come apart just as easily
Bite-sized pieces
Thin, translucent skin
Holding together sunshine
In liquid form

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Notes and Happenings

• Inspired by the creative food writing course, my classmate-sister Maude launched her own substack, and I’d encourage you to read it, and subscribe, and give her some good feedback. It’s such beautiful, honest writing, and we all need to encourage her to write more.

• I got my first gas bill this past week. Free-range eggs are only €1.59 a half dozen here, but my first gas bill — accounting for heat (which I keep low), hot water (which I minimize), and cooking (because cooking) — was ghastly for my tiny apartment. It all evens out, right?

• My sisters and I are in the process of sharing and reading our First Big Class Assignment Papers, and I’m blown away with the creativity and thoughtfulness and soul-baring stories and poetry. A lot of New Food Thinking is being unleased here.

• This past week I met Rachel Black, one of my author-crushes, as I audited her Food Anthropology class via the Master of World Food Studies program. More on that in a future post, including the details of my complete fanboy book-signing request.

• I will post my own paper, as submitted, no grade or feedback yet, IF I can get at least 10 of you to write in the comments here your answer to a question posed by Professor Black to the class: What was the most disgusting thing you ever ate?

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