What's That Smell in the Kitchen?

Lieke van der Vorst

What's That Smell In the Kitchen?

All over America women are burning dinners.
It's lamb chops in Peoria; it's haddock
in Providence; it's steak in Chicago;
tofu delight in Big Sur; red
rice and beans in Dallas.
All over America women are burning
food they're supposed to bring with calico
smile on platters glittering like wax.
Anger sputters in her brainpan, confined
but spewing out missiles of hot fat.
Carbonized despair presses like a clinker
from a barbecue against the back of her eyes.
If she wants to grill anything, it's
her husband over a slow fire.
If she wants to serve him anything
it's a dead rat with a bomb in its belly
ticking like the heart of an insomniac.
Her life is cooked and digested
nothing but leftovers in Tupperware.
Look, she says, once I was roast duck
on your platter with parsley but now I am Spam.
Burning dinner is not incompetence but war.

Marge Piercy


Cooking and food are such rich topics for thought and conversation. All of life can be discussed in terms of food.  After all, what is more personal than preparing the meal that sustains a human being? But then there's the cook. Does she add to the flavour? Is her mood or intent an ingredient of the sauce? You better believe it. Cooking can be love, but it can be battle just as well.  Be good to the cook.