Delinquent Son - Dec 8 2023

 

Delinquent Son

Dec 8 2023

They imprint us like baby ducks.

The food our mothers made

when we were young,

and the kitchen she ruled

was redolent with her cooking.

How long

since I've eaten brisket

gefilte fish

potato kugel?

Or compared,

and found the pretenders wanting?

Just the aroma

would be enough

to satisfy this craving.

The rich umami scent

of a lesser cut of beef,

slow-roasted

in its own succulent juices;

caramelized onions

smelling unaccountably sweet.

But we were kids

and that's just how it was.

Fast food and packaged treats

beat home cooking any day.

Nostalgia, of course, casts its golden glow.

Because I think she disliked cooking,

would have preferred

being out in the world,

instead of labouring

over a hot electric stove,

the daily chores

of domesticity.

Now, I cook a few simple dishes

no one will be nostalgic for.

No love of cooking;

but perhaps, cooking with love

is enough to excuse

the burnt food and soggy vegetables.

The lost art of cookery.

A family heritage spurned.

The traditional dishes

that survived generations

of persecution

dislocation

and industrial food

will not be passed on,

and I wonder if my forbears

who believed in continuity

are somehow dishonoured by this.

Her delinquent son, the bad cook,

who knows how to microwave

and is good at reheating.

Who avoids the kitchen,

doing as she was tempted to do

but dutifully resisted.