Slow Food - May 22 2022

 

Slow Food

May 22 2022

The speed of light may be fixed,

but life

just gets faster.

Events

the internet

whatever current fad.

Which is why I take my time

and linger over a meal;

both slow food

and food that's real.

Because time is priceless;

there's no amount you can pay

to speed-up fermentation,

no skipping the line

as the rich have always done —

— the yeast will not be rushed.

Bread, left to rise.

Wine, aged in barrels.

Hard cheese

maturing in its own good time

that cannot be disturbed.

The sharp tang

of the 4-year cheddar,

it's crumbly texture

mouldy surface

complex scent.

There is no “cheese flavour”

or chemical legerdemain

that can simulate this,

no compression of time

that will serve our desire

for instant gratification.

I think back

that many years

to a more innocent world

and a different stage of life.

Because 4 years is a long time

when we're hurtling into the future

at such headlong speed.

The many wars.

The planet over-heating.

The cultural transformations.

And all of my own

trials and tribulations.

Whether for better or worse

is up for debate.

But for all 48 months

that squat heavy round

passively sat

on the cheese house shelf,

industrious yeast

in its moist dark interior

performing its alchemy.

There is no compressing

the passage of time

it takes for a fine cheese;

no replacement

except to defer gratification

and patiently wait.

So I eat slowly

and savour its pleasures.

The mouth feel, and flavour.

The rich scent

I can’t help but inhale.

The finely textured crumble.

And the taste

lingering on my tongue

that's more than enough

to satiate my hunger.

How odd

how time seems to slow

with mindful eating.

As if the speed of light had taken a break,

and instead racing

to the edge of the universe

and the end of time,

it had paused to rest, down here on earth;

at this modest table

in my small house

on a simple ceramic plate,

just as it started to fade

to dusk.