Sea Gumbo

Peace,
The jewel is Food.

Food is basically concentrated solar energy that one intakes to power the body. Some of us get it direct via vegetables and fruits. Others of us get it as it is encased in animal meats. I was working in a kitchen on the high seas. Of course I was going to learn a lot of stuff about food.

First off, what was fresh was that the head cook was a vegetarian so I always got a good meal. Even though the passengers wanted their buttered sea scavengers and deep fried meats I was guaranteed that I was going to have a nutritious meal each and every day. He was a gourmet chef so I had the pleasure of trying some ill vegetarian dishes that I never even thought of. The second chef was muslim so he had some ill halal dishes also without meat. I learned a lot back there.

I already knew the science on sea scavengers/bottom feeders yet working in that kitchen just reinforced it. I mean the cooks had to clean shit off shrimp, soak clams and mussels in bleach water, shuck those damn lobsters, etc. That stuff is just the pork of the sea and if you don’t eat pork yet try to explain away those sea scavengers then you are just shamin.

While traveling up and down the coast I soaked in a lot of the culinary science that the cooks had to offer. It was ill because they didn’t just cook food. As part of their training they had to know the history of food, the cultures that certain dishes arose in, culinary customs, etc.

I learned that along with the colonial expansion of Europe into New England there was a Victorian fascination with China that was going on. Therefore a lot of the dishes that are still served aboard nautical cruises up and down the east coast are mixtures of Chinese food with native nation food. I learned about preparation of using various squashes, corns, beans, bamboo hearts, mandarin oranges, etc

Also, I realized something that should’ve been common sense to recognize. Cooks and drug dealers run in the same circles a lot of times due to the fact that a lot of drugs come from plant foundations. I also learned how to make a lot of foods like ‘those’ such as bhang, cannabutter, and green dragon. It was definitely an experience.

On this one spot down the Hudson river we ran across a Ginseng festival (no lie). It was ill. I learned about the complexity of botanical medicine, the history of the ginseng trade, etc. And had a host of ginseng in various forms and types available to me. I also just got into the habit of chewing mint. Fresh mint is just right. Pick some up instead of that gum.