Vegan Delight -- Benjamin Zephaniah

Guest poem sent in by Arvind Natarajan

(Poem #1584) Vegan Delight Ackees, chapatties Dumplins an nan, Channa an rotis Onion uttapam, Masala dosa Green callaloo Bhel an samosa Corn an aloo. Yam an cassava Pepperpot stew, Rotlo an guava Rice an tofu, Puri, paratha Sesame casserole, Brown eggless pasta An brown bread rolls. Soya milked muesli Soya bean curd, Soya sweet sweeties Soya's de word, Soya bean margarine Soya bean sauce What can mek medicine? Soya of course. Soya meks yoghurt Soya ice-cream, Or soya sorbet Soya reigns supreme, Soya sticks liquoriced Soya salads Try any soya dish Soya is bad. Plantain an tabouli Cornmeal pudding Onion bhajee Wid plenty cumin, Breadfruit an coconuts Molasses tea Dairy free omelettes Very chilli. Ginger bread, nut roast Sorrell, paw paw, Cocoa an rye toast I tek dem on tour, Drinking cool maubi Meks me feel sweet, What was dat question now? What do we eat? -- Benjamin Zephaniah

Found that Minstrels didn't list any Zephaniahs.  Watched the HARDtalk
program with this outspoken poet when he refused the offer of OBE (in Nov
2003), by publishing an article in 'The Guardian'.

Far from his political outcries, the above is a typical children's poem with
nice rhyming all along.  What interested me is how much the Indian food has
integrated into the British staple diet. (even onion uttappams! soon chutney
& sambar will accompany it) No wonder then that Chicken Tikka Masala ranks
as the No. 1 dish of England. [In particular, good *vegetarian* food is far
more likely than not to be Indian - martin]

And two paragraphs for soya - makes one wonder why is he is so obsessed with
it.

From 'The Guardian' article :

    Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear that
    word "empire"; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years
    of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my
    forefathers brutalised.

The full article at :
[broken link] http://books.guardian.co.uk/poetry/features/0,12887,1094009,00.html

Arvind

[Links]

Zephaniah's home page: http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com/

Biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Zephaniah

See also the similar "Bleezer's Ice Cream" [Poem #1055]