April 2 2017
I've been called a lot of things. Mostly things I wouldn't repeat or print anywhere, no matter how accurate or unfair those things were.
There was one name that kind of stuck with me as kid though.
As an Italian Australian I grew up with a lot of good food. Somehow my Mum managed to cook all of the great Calabrese dishes exactly the way my Dad's mother did. Mum is/was an awesome cook.
Apparently Dad got a job in a small goods factory when we were young. One of the things they made were hot dogs.
We were never allowed to eat hot dogs again after that.
Also no ketchup (or tomato sauce as we call it in Oz). No Coca-Cola. Definitely no McDonalds.
In the years before my parent's divorce our next door neighbours, avid Seventh Day Adventists, opened 'Tropical Fruit World', or as locals called it, 'The Big Avocado".
They sold a bunch of healthy stuff, naturally: the SDA thing. They also sold a few chocolates and snacks. I had developed a penchant fot Kit-Kats and used to go down there any time I had enough money to buy them. It was next door. It was very easy.
One day I walked in with my handful of change, and the neighbour says: "oh here he comes, the junk food junkie".
I was horrified, naturally, because being a teenager, that's what comes naturally. They totally candy-shamed me.
Funny though, it always stuck with me. Probably because it's true. They totally nailed it. Dammit.
So God help me here in the USA. I really love American Candy, especially anything with peanut butter in it. I know. WRONG. But GOOD.
So in the spirit of embracing a slur and owning it, rather than wearing it with shame, that's me.
I'm a junk food junkie. And really, there's no shame in that.
#california #hemet #duranbah #thebigavocado #hobbyfarm #tropicalfruitworld #kitkat #reeces #hostess #fruitpies #junkfood #junkfoodjunkie #junkfoodshaming #peanutbutter #americancandy #sda #travel #solotravel #sticksandstoneswon'thurtme
No comments:
Post a Comment