In honor of the 103rd birthday of Theodore Geisel, Dr. Seuss, (did you know that his name is pronounced like "voice?") our family tried green eggs and ham this morning. The kids thought it was great fun. I thought it was most disgusting.
The eggs and ham--all green--tasted basically as they should. So, what was it I did not like? The green slime of the over easy egg? The slight marbeling of green dye soaking into the slab of ham?
When I visited Japan last spring, I tried a plethora of foods (mostly from the sea) I never imagined existed. When presented with a bowl containing a single raw egg, I waited expectantly for a means by which the unfertilized ova would become edible. Afterall, as an American, I knew that raw egg was to be avoided at all costs. There was no such transformation.
Japanese sukiyaki is meat and vegetables simmered in a pot in the center of the table. A portion is dropped into your bowl, on top of the raw egg you have beaten with your chopsticks. A chunk of meat or slice of mushroom is pulled from the mess that looks like the beginnings of an omelet. Suspended in the air the bite drips with raw egg. In your mouth you are very conscious of the slimy raw egg.
The surprise? I absolutely loved sukiyaki! Therefore, I conclude that it was not the slimy egg of my green eggs and ham I did not enjoy.
While still in Japan I was treated to a multi-course traditional Japanese meal. The one dish that stands out was the snapper boiled in sake. The plate arrived with just the head and tail of the fish--skinned to the bone and one eye protruding from the skull. I stared at that emaciated corpse for a long time, and he stared back. The tableau was frightening.
Visions of dead fish flitted through my mind when I ate green eggs and ham this morning. I saw the eye bulging, the white skeletal outline with no visible flesh to eat. I know in reality it was only a little green food coloring. But for today, my plate held a green slab of poor defenseless pig interspersed with the remnants of what could have been a cuddly chick.
Is this how God sees us when we have sinned? With a little green dye coloring all our flaws, accentuating every little thing, until He has to turn away?
Thank you Dr. Seuss, for your amazing contribution to children's literature! And for the moral--you don't know until you try it.
I tried it. I don't like green eggs and ham. I don't like them Sam-I-am.
1 comment:
Sam-I-Am watched you eat every bite...pretty good, for for something you don't like.
Would you like them in a house? Would you like them with a mouse?
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