Carrots!
To love the carrot is to love life. Crunchy and colorful, versatile and vivacious, carrots are the essential reminder of the fertility of mother earth. As long as there have been people with epicurean desires, there have been those of us enchanted by this subterranean treasure. Carrots come in a variety of shapes and sizes -- long and lean, short and stubby, sinewy and slender, even Siamese-twinned or almost completely round. But the classics shape is, if not quite phallic, certainly a pleasingly tapered and luxuriously long stretch of the most strikingly bold orange flesh to be found anywhere in nature.
True, the carrot is, essentially, just a root. But what a voluptuous root it is! Far larger than the fanciful greenery that it supports, the very size and shape of the carrot root bespeaks a vigorousness of character that is profound. Its sole raison d etre is to penetrate the hard and indifferent soil in search of nutrients, sustenance, and satisfaction, and this it does splendidly. So splendidly, in fact, that when we see a freshly washed bunch of carrots layed out on the misting tables at the local produce stand, the reaction we feel is almost indescribably visceral. That most primitive part of our human DNA, the part that deals with survival and instinct and striving, identifies elementally with that striving aspect of the carrots character that gives it its shape. And then, of course, as we have with everything since we were infants, we want to put it in our mouths and bite it.
Whether the roots of our affection for this noble vegetable spring from childhood memories of their Bugsbunnyesque munchability, or are instead the result of more adult and measured musings, it matters not. What is instead most important about our relationship with the carrot is simply this -- it is pleasing to the senses and we can eat it. And eat it we do! Fresh from the garden, raw and zesty. Stripped of its skin, still raw, and dipped in creamy ranch dressing. Grated and mixed into slaws. Plucked, sliced, or julienned, gently steamed then slathered with fresh butter. Or the babies, harvested lovingly, poached and served hot -- a little parsley, perhaps some celery seed and, voila! Carrots are so good that we even insist on putting them in rich cakes, smothered with cream cheese frosting. Carrot soup, honey-glazed carrots, carrot muffins, carrot marmalades and jams. Wash it all down with some carrot wine -- why there's even carrot jelly we can use to get a tan!
It's good to love the carrot. It means you're still alive. When dining out, disdain the fries, and eat just four or five. They say your eyes will prosper. Your soul will prosper too. But most of all eat them because it's what you want to chew.
Gerald Michael Rolfe
http://www.geraldmichaelrolfe.com
True, the carrot is, essentially, just a root. But what a voluptuous root it is! Far larger than the fanciful greenery that it supports, the very size and shape of the carrot root bespeaks a vigorousness of character that is profound. Its sole raison d etre is to penetrate the hard and indifferent soil in search of nutrients, sustenance, and satisfaction, and this it does splendidly. So splendidly, in fact, that when we see a freshly washed bunch of carrots layed out on the misting tables at the local produce stand, the reaction we feel is almost indescribably visceral. That most primitive part of our human DNA, the part that deals with survival and instinct and striving, identifies elementally with that striving aspect of the carrots character that gives it its shape. And then, of course, as we have with everything since we were infants, we want to put it in our mouths and bite it.
Whether the roots of our affection for this noble vegetable spring from childhood memories of their Bugsbunnyesque munchability, or are instead the result of more adult and measured musings, it matters not. What is instead most important about our relationship with the carrot is simply this -- it is pleasing to the senses and we can eat it. And eat it we do! Fresh from the garden, raw and zesty. Stripped of its skin, still raw, and dipped in creamy ranch dressing. Grated and mixed into slaws. Plucked, sliced, or julienned, gently steamed then slathered with fresh butter. Or the babies, harvested lovingly, poached and served hot -- a little parsley, perhaps some celery seed and, voila! Carrots are so good that we even insist on putting them in rich cakes, smothered with cream cheese frosting. Carrot soup, honey-glazed carrots, carrot muffins, carrot marmalades and jams. Wash it all down with some carrot wine -- why there's even carrot jelly we can use to get a tan!
It's good to love the carrot. It means you're still alive. When dining out, disdain the fries, and eat just four or five. They say your eyes will prosper. Your soul will prosper too. But most of all eat them because it's what you want to chew.
Gerald Michael Rolfe
http://www.geraldmichaelrolfe.com
posted by Gerald Michael Rolfe @ 12:54 PM
