As an author, I love food and give this love through in my books to the extent that readers blame me for 'putting on a few pounds' and'wanting coffee all the time'. I am glad that this is the feedback I receive.It means that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing as a writer. I allow the reader to experience the books.
"I have not taken food for a while. It would be a shock to my system," I replied, not wanting my mother to feel offended by my changing preference in food I used to enjoy.
"Do you no longer like the taste?" she enquired,revealing that she was well aware of what she was doing to me. It was her way of ascertaining what was wrong and different with me.
"If I could taste, I would probably enjoy the food," I confessed.
"Since when do you no longer taste?" she wanted to know, taking a second helping of bacon for herself, biting into the crunchy morsel with so much relish that I wanted to scream.
"Since becoming Navigator," I whispered."
Han Storm's comment on the above and his adventure with food in the Universe of Kraita: "When you become a Navigator you mostly need energetic energy, delivered by heavy metals such as gold, silver, copper and nickel alloy.
I still had a body. I still needed food. I had to stay human too in order to serve my Planet and her people.
My doctor had worked out a regimen of protein drinks, vitamin supplemented porridges, and intravenous feeds when they put me out to rest. I was a constant challenge for him; an interesting subject; a tool to be maintained, studied and kept in top condition.
Working in space was not for the faint of heart.
I missed planetary (three-dimensional) things. It became lonely without my family.
Above all, I missed to be able to just sit down and eat a proper meal. Something of everything I truly love.
Emotions are connected with food.
Memories are triggered by the thought, aroma or taste of a certain food item.
For me the adventure with food was an ongoing pleasure and experience.
Berries and wood smoke would elicit memories of Mara, Moira'smother, my first love. I only shared a week with Mara, highlighted with brilliant meals, from grilled fish, to a fowl baked to crispy heaven accompanied by baby sweet potatoes and other vegetables.
Chocolate and bacon always reminded me of father Tucker, my first partner in the Security Forces in my home town, on my beloved Creata.
Hei, my adopted father on Encha, loved to bake. His dried-out wheaten rusks, dunked into freshly brewed coffee until they were soggy to be eaten quickly was always a life-saver when I did not wish to eat but knew I had to.
Thick, juicy steaks, dripping with fat, charred to well done on the outside while pinkish in the middle was by far my favourite dish (next to anything with bacon of course).
Bacon could be served with every meal, in whatever form, I did not care if it was made from genetically engineered Sluggs and not pigs. It still tasted the same.
Sweet potatoes, squashes and pumpkins came after bacon and steak.I preferred the traditional Gaoucomian cooking of grilled sweet potatoes,sweetened with honey, cooked inside the tough skins. Such a meal will be served with whole green beans in garlic sauce, baby potatoes fried in bacon lard,grilled pumpkin flecked and filled with nuts and raisins, fresh fruits cut into finger portions, and green salads with spicy flowers.
My mother's sweet potato pie with whipped cream, sweetened with dark Gaoucomian wild honey was always a home treat. Basically any form of pumpkin in any form of pie made a great pudding.
For breakfast Hulo's farro made to a thick consistency from white maize, smothered under cream and sunny-side-up free-range eggs was a special treat.
Every meal should always be rounded off with coffee. No matter where we traveled, this beverage was still the preferred drink and thankfully was available in some or other form on almost all planets.
Good memories are made around meals.
Sad and hated memories too.
Certain foods, even though highly nutritious, I just could not stand. Enriched porridge and salty rye bread made me burst out into sweat at the memory of my imprisonment by the Enchan Cannibals. My people knew to keep these specific dishes far away from me.
I avoided taking any foods that reminded me of 'last meals' such as date pudding with sweet cream. It was the last serving of food Jade and I had shared before she died."
Conclusion from the author: Neither food nor eating should be taken for granted. There are many out there starving, unable to eat for whatever reason, be it poverty, drought, disease, illness or occupational hazard.
When you are blessed with food, use it wisely, be thankful, enjoy what you have, even if it is little, and please build good memories around meals.
Author, H Gibson, The Chronicles of Han Book Series
Thanks for stopping by to share your food for thought, H!
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