Peace!
Today was quite an interesting day...
I got a phone call this morning from the extended fam saying they were heading into Detroit and asked if I wanted to come. Of course! With me leaving to go back home in just a few days this would be my last chance to experience my (only) favorite place here in Michigan.
So she comes through, scoops the Seed and I up and long story short, the task at hand come to find out was to swing through the Eastern Market to purchase some.....
........wait for it.......:
Chitlins.
Yes!!! *retch*
Oh My Gawd it was like walking into a morgue. Hog maw, pig heads, pigs feet, and every other unidentifiable body part scooped out of the deceased was all out for display and it was PACKED full of people (mainly older folk) trying to squeeze through the crowds and place their order.
To me it didn't reek too much in there. I guess because it was such a big building and it was very open, and plus I'm used to the smell of death (sadly). Had I been pregnant I would not have made it through the door.
However, tucked all the way in the corner of this one particular section of the market was a very cozy and quaint health food store. I was elated! I hung out there for a bit while the fam made their purchases. I bought some aloe vera gel (woot!), coconut water to drink on the way home and some coconut oil for my hair.
Unfortunately I did have to ride an hour and a half in the car with like 10 lbs of chitlins in the trunk (in an SUV so the funk just flowed freely throughout). 0_o
What is it about slave food that our people hold on to?
I mean these folks were excited to get their hands on these chitlins. Who wants to spend 3 hours out of their day cleaning fecal matter out of their food? I just cannot fathom that.
Is it that they believe they are paying homage to their ancestors who didn't have a choice in what they ate? Or is it that they have yet to have been liberated? I mean, the people around here are seriously about 25 years behind. You would think the elections might have unlocked some 'freedom' within these folks but obviously not. Must've been the wrong key.
They still talk about who has good hair/bad hair or what parent gave their child his light 'skin-did' complexion on a daily basis. The concept of 'Asiatic', 'Original Man/Woman', or 'Supreme Being' has not permeated any town north of Detroit. It's a damn shame. We're still battling amongst ourselves after all this time.
I wanted locs done before I left and I asked this girl if she knew how to start them and she looked at me completely puzzled.
......locs.....?
......................dreadlocks?........'oh!!!!! no.......sorry.'
Of course I'm asking a chick who is rocking a wig on top of a wig (word is bond) so I should've anticipated her answer but who doesn't know locs?
But I digress.
I never grew up with slave food, nor anything that could be constituted as 'soul food' neither. It's a heart attack on a plate. I don't know what's so good about it.
Watch people indulge in this type of food and how their body reacts shortly thereafter. It's like that scene in Sugar Hill when Roemello and Raynathan's father took that very last hit. A slightly dramatic analogy but shit, this slave food is just a slower method with the same end result.
Break free from the shackles of oppression and let that mentality (and awful eating) go!!
