Plants/Animals
Parsley from KCC Urban Farm (Summer 2019)
Vegetables, Fruits, Animals, Herbs, Flowers, Etc.
“Food, as politics, is subtle and unexpected because it is not seen as a tool of opposition but as a necessary substance. . . chicken holds evidence of the ways black people disrupted hegemonic cultural assumptions that tried to define them. And see how ordinary people — perceived as subordinated and subjugated — challenged the dominant ideologies that sought to control them.”
This season’s featured animal is chicken. Partially because spring and summer are traditionally when young chickens would be ready for slaughter (according to Edna Lewis and others), but also because it’s an animal that’s made a regular appearance in my diet since my earliest memories. From chicken nuggets, to fried chicken, to roast chicken, to slippery dumplings & chicken, to bbq chicken, to on and on.
It doesn’t hurt that I was born in the year of the Rooster, and chickens are one of my favorite animals (second only to frogs and toads).
Chickens are smart, and I like that they’re farmers in their own right. They can till earth and build their own houses if need be. Like me, they’re omnivorous with a diet that includes other animals, grains, and vegetation. Plus they’re just gorgeous.
When I’m not adoring chickens from afar, I also love eating them, and it’s only been in recent years that I’ve embraced my love of chicken as food and friend. And while to some it might be pretty stereotypical for a Black girl to fall to her knees at the sight of chicken.
Fall to my knees I do.
PLANT & ANIMAL LIBRARIES (coming October 18th 2020)