By DiscoMonster
Mealtimes:
“Suppertime. I should set the table. 'Cause it's suppertime. Somehow I'm not able. 'Cause that man o'mine. Ain't comin' home no more.” How could I tell the neighbours? What would my family say?
She had a voice so rich she never had to pay for breakfast, lunch, dinner or tea.
She beguiled my man. He wouldn’t come home for supper. He wouldn’t come home at all until I made promises I couldn’t keep.
For breakfast, I sucked lemons.
I felt humiliated. I wished revenge on my man. I made plans to leave him. I imagined him all alone eating dinner for one trying to understand the vagaries of love.
I cooked up a plan. A natty supper to fill his gut and make him rest. Make him think I was supine.
I was sweetness and light on the outside but bitter and sour on the inside. I left him belly full. I met friends. We had a liquid lunch. Would my man swallow my excuses like he swallowed my food? I went partying.
I saw a tasty looking lad in a club. We flirted. I didn’t mind being called breakfast if I was his flavour. But then he called my friends his lunch, dinner and supper. He was negging me. I wonder if he realises why dishes go cold on him?
Then I saw an old flame and hungry for that old salt we went for a midnight feast. Sated! I knew only he could satisfy my hunger, quench my thirst. I asked him to come away with me.
I went home for the last time and made an ital breakfast. Vital it was, restoring my strength for the argument to come.
A weekend of both the indigestible and lip-smacking deliciousness gave way to workday routines. Biscuits for breakfast, FML.
FML and its uncertainty. I’m free of that man but my lover never stays beyond breakfast. How can I live a life when solitude rips the rhythm of mealtimes from my life? I want to become a chef,
I wonder what my ex is doing? Wonder if that man is still on the hooch? Probably having breakfast while listening to Johnny Dowd.
What time to eat? A-list playlist:
Ella Fitzgerald – Suppertime
The Mamas and Papas – Sing for Your Supper
The Poozies – The Shepherd's Wife
Cornershop – Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast
Ray Noble and His Orchestra with Al Bowlly, vocal refrain – Dinner for One Please, James
The Chantells – Natty Supper
Caro Emerald – Liquid Lunch
Le Le – Breakfast
Lal Waterson & Oliver Knight – Midnight Feast
Dub Syndicate – Ital Breakfast
Fink – Biscuits
Associates – Breakfast
Sir Vincent Lone – Breakfast with Johnny Dowd
Meals:
I used to get up when I wanted, have tea with cinnamon. Drink champagne, go back to bed. I wasted myself living an unreal life.
I had been a top chef. You name it I cooked it. I was good. But I have a big mouth, the wrong genitals and the wrong skin colour. I never knew my supposed station. I made a good platter. But my patter – it got me sacked.
I ended up penniless. I’d walk past people arguing about whether to eat ham ’n’ eggs while my stomach rumbled and my mind growled with indignation. I gave them a piece of my mind when I really wanted a piece of their chicken.
One Saturday there was a fish fry party smelling so good, but the public turned their back on me.
Families at a hot barbecue wouldn’t share a sausage with me. I sullied the atmosphere.
I felt ashamed. I was malnourished in every way. So, I went back home and my mother broke bread for me.
She insisted on taking me to the Passover Feast. The good people there relaxed me with their herbs.
They took me on a stoned soul picnic. I began to feel part of a community again. Felt that food was for sharing and not an extension of my ego – realised that being with family at mealtimes was infinitely more important than the shade of the sauce complementing the asparagus.
I saw a wedding feast. A huge family gathering, the food making the conversation easy and the atmosphere relaxed. Such togetherness. Yeah! Meals bring people together. It seems so obvious but I’d forgotten that.
Nowadays I don’t get up before 12 and have tea with cinnamon and a champagne lunch, instead I have a sound breakfast. You can’t underestimate the value of three square meals a day.
Tomorrow I’m going to take some school girls on a picnic. It’ll be an adventure that’ll bring us together.
What to eat A-list playlist:
Katzenjammer – Tea with Cinnamon
Xenia Rubinos – Mexican Chef
A Tribe Called Quest – Ham 'N' Eggs
The Blue Dots – Saturday Night Fish Fry
Brother Jack McDuff – Hot Barbecue
The J.B.s – Breakin' Bread
The Congos – Feast of the Passover
Laura Nyro – Stoned Soul Picnic
Bombay Sisters – Bhojanam Seyya Vaarungal (Please come to eat)
Groove Cereal – Sound Breakfast (ft. Jenova 7 & Andrew Linn)
Gheorghe Zamfir – Doina Sus Pe Culmea Dealului (Picnic at Hanging Rock soundtrack)
Guru's wildcard pick:
The Avalanches - Noisy Eater
(and a few more options from the menu ...)
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic Well tasty: songs about meals and mealtimes. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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