My relationship with food has changed a lot throughout the years. I went from being the child in the 70’s in Brooklyn of my single mother, who, despite being on an incredibly tight budget, always cooked gourmet food, to being a teenager with a ferocious eating disorder that prevented me from enjoying food, to a wife who cooked near-gourmet food for my big husband almost every night, to being suddenly widowed and not being able to bear cooking for one and so would eat out a lot of the time, to the daughter again, this time of a married mother who lives close by and cooks much of the time for my stepfather and me. I really enjoy food.
Homelessness and hunger is my big “cause,” and I take whatever steps I can to eradicate it. Going without food just seems so unnecessary when there is such an abundance in the world. One of the things that I do is work in a food pantry, where the patrons are able to load up on whatever foods they like. It always makes me happy to see someone go out the door with eight or so bags of healthy groceries.
I am a healthy weight for my height. I think that this is very important, but I also “get it” when someone is on medication that makes them gain weight or just plain likes to eat too much.
I like to eat out, and my favorite food is sushi. How I wish I could have just sushi every single day, but the price is prohibitive for me, and I might get sick of it anyway.
I also like to watch cooking shows, but I find that they make me too hungry.
In short, my relationship with food has been essential throughout the various phases of my life. I hope always to have enough, and I hope that others will, too.
Noelle Kocot is the author of six books of poetry, most recently, Soul in Space(Wave Books, 2013). She has also translated a book of poetry by the French poet, Tristan Corbiere, called Poet by Default. She’s won numerous awards for her writing, including those from The National Endowment for the Arts, The Fund for Poetry, The Academy of American Poets, The Lannan Foundation and The American Poetry Review. Her work has been widely anthologized, including in Best American Poetry 2001, 2012 and 2013 and Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology. So far, her work is being read and taught in at least 15 different countries. Originally from Brooklyn, she now lives in New Jersey and teaches writing in New York, including at The New School.
Comments are closed.