Haiku about Food: Week 9 of rewriting your well-being

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Good morning, afternoon and evening from Haiku for You! This is a 12-week interactive blog-series where I will help you write haiku for your daily fill of well-being!

If you would like to know more about my series, feel free to revisit my introductory post where I explain how mindfulness and poetry can work hand in hand to bring you positivity. You don’t even need any previous experience in creative writing. I will hand you what you need to know on a plate of inspiration!

So, before you settle down to that wholesome roast dinner or your refreshing summer salad,

take a slow, deep breath in …

and then back out.

I hope you have worked up an appetite because this week, we are going to write haiku about

food.

Thoughts about food

Did you know that the food we eat on a regular basis doesn’t only affect how we feel physically but also mentally? It has been proved that everything we ingest has a great influence on our cognitive ability and our energy. It’s no wonder then, that in a world of fast food, we so often find ourselves feeling exhausted or generally functioning far from our full capacity. If we instead eat the food that takes care of us, it may not transform our whole world, but it could bring us at least a little closer to healthy well-being.

Our perspective on food

There are many reasons why we eat. For some, food is simply the sustenance we require to maintain an energetic lifestyle. For others, it is an opportunity to be brought together with family and friends over a fun-filled feast. For most of us, it is the flavoursome experience that we yearn for every day, and it can bring us tremendous comfort during hard times.

But food, just like mindfulness, should also be a form of self-care.

A meal is an opportunity. It is a chance to feel nourished by a colourful salad, your homegrown vegetables or a curry flush with spices! And yet, how often do you find your food disappearing before you within a course of minutes? I know it happens to me, and it certainly seems counterproductive after excitedly preparing it for over an hour!

Instead, take a breath, take your time and enjoy the creation.

Food at its most natural

Now to return to mindfulness, it can help to begin with food in its most natural state. Pick up a peach, a tomato, an apple, or an egg straight from the box. Hold it in your hand for a while and gently roll it around to feel its fluffiness, its wrinkles, or the simple smoothness of its skin. Before you take a bite, consider where it came from and how it arrived with you at this moment.

Taste the explosion of citrus fruit. Isn’t it refreshing? Especially in summer! What’s your favourite kind? The sharp lemon? The tender mandarin orange? Or, a sour grapefruit? Whatever fruit you choose, notice the texture of its skin or the way a blueberry pops when you crunch into it. Isn’t it a pleasure to lose yourself in your senses for a few seconds?

You can do the same with vegetables. Notice how the butter melts into those boiled green beans and potatoes. See the sprinkle of seasoning as it cascades over your serving of mushrooms or meat. Allow the flour to mesmerise you while it is sieved into the mixing bowl before it transforms into bread. How we treat our food can be how we end up treating ourselves, so be slow, and be gentle.

To appreciate food to its full extent, how about trying to grow some fruit or vegetables in your garden, or a few herbs on your windowsill? It can be so rewarding to eat something you have nurtured through different weathers. It reminds us of the magical process of nature, and of how we can all continue to evolve with a little nurturing.

Haiku about food: some examples of my own

Isolation feast - 
the other side of the fridge
life is delivered.
brooke lark nTZOILVZuOg unsplash
Breezy barbecue -
time blowing ash in our hair;
charcoaled fingertips.
Haiku about food
A bowl of mixed fruit -
a taste from other countries
and my mouth explodes.
freestocks xSGCbGYQtO4 unsplash

How to write your own haiku about food

Exercise duration: approximately 30 minutes

1. Take a moment before one of your main meals to consider how hungry you feel right now.

Does your stomach feel hollow? Is it grumbling? Acknowledge how this is just a physical feeling, and how the moment will soon pass.

2. Once you have placed your food in front of you, how does it smell? Write it down in at least three words.

3. Is it a colourful meal?

Write down all the colours you can find.

4. Be in touch with your senses throughout the preparation process.

Is there an aroma of onions or peppers frying? Does the knife chop loudly against the chopping board? Does that slice of carrot find its way to your mouth? Listen to the calming sound of soup simmering on the hob.

5. Now, how does the food taste? How does it make you feel?

Cosy? Comforted? Healthy and light? Refreshed? Does it remind you of something good?

6. It’s time to write!

Now, using your notes, write your haiku about food.

Just remember, it’s three lines of 5-7-5 syllables! Refer back to How to write Haiku guidelines.

So, close your eyes and take another deep breath in …

and then back out …

Food and memories

The act of eating satisfies a primal urge. No matter who we are or how we feel, food is something we need daily and we are weak without it. The smell of broth cooking on the stove has the power to bring us back to childhood. As mentioned in my first Haiku for You post, it can immediately make us feel at home.

Thank you for sharing your poetic feast with me. I look forward to hearing every word you contribute in the comments section. Next week, I will bring you another inspiring theme to keep you well-fed!

So, remember, treat yourself …

… to a moment of mindfulness.

I hope I have made you hungry for haiku and ready to cook up some delicious poetry! Enjoy life in all its savory and sweetness.

Now, let’s haiku away!

If you are happy to, please leave your beautiful haiku about food in the comments section below each post.

See last week – Week 8: Haiku about Night-time

Haiku about food

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24 Comments
  1. Anna Söderlund

    I love this weeks theme! We all have a special relationship to food 🙂

    Here are my haikus:

    Complete happiness
    finding ripe avocados
    Smoothie? Coming up!

    Plantbaser is my choice
    since I love all animals
    Eat lentils and smile!

    • Georgia

      We certainly do, Anna! ‘Complete happiness’ says it all. You can definitely get lost in the moment when it comes to food. I love how upbeat these haiku are! There is also such a gentle nature in the second one especially. Thank you for writing these so enthusiastically! 🙂

  2. Anna Söderlund

    *plantbased (of course) 🙂

  3. Wendy Evans

    FOOD

    The smell is scrumptious
    Fills me up – satisfaction
    Time to flop – eyes shut!

    • Georgia

      I’ve always liked the word “scrumptious!” It sounds so delicious and crunchy to say out loud, just like what it is! There’s a lot of alliteration here that works so well, and you have really captured that perfect, after-food sleepiness. Thank you, Wendy! 🙂

  4. Carolyn Jones

    Haiku about Food
    Not chocolate bars
    Not ice cream cones or croissants
    But coconut cake

    • Georgia

      Oo, I can tell there is more meaning to this coconut cake! I could also totally eat a croissant right now! Thinking about it, I could probably eat all of those… Thanks for this foody selection, Carolyn. I really hope you obtained/obtain your coconut cake! 🙂

  5. Meic F Haines

    Picau ar y maen….
    Bara lawr a thato stwnsh….
    …. A beth am fara brith?

    • Georgia

      Oh my gosh! This is such a cosy meal, in all its savory and sweetness too! I can smell freshly-baked welsh cakes just thinking about this! Thanks, Meic – and for the welsh language. It’s lovely to hear. This was a very wholesome haiku.

  6. Chris

    Oh Meic
    How lovely. I wanted to ask you to translate it but went to google translate instead!! I knew what brith meant!!
    Then you inspired me to try a haiku in Welsh but the syllable count went crazy!!!
    I was in Wales some time ago trying to read the road signs and to see if there is any pattern between English and Welsh but found none.
    Now, just for a challenge I have written a Welsh haiku thinking of my Welsh friend!!
    Don’t count the syllables!!!

    Cacennau Cymraeg ffres
    Gyda menyn cynnes yn toddi
    Cartref wed’i wneud gyda chariad

    The theme food had me stumped but now I am on a mission.

  7. Chris

    Thank you Meic for inspiration
    This is for my Welsh friend Lynne who loves cooking.

    Freshly made Welsh cakes
    Warmly wrapped in a tea towel
    Homemade gift of love

    • Georgia

      Thank you for this delightful haiku, Chris. I can really hear the gentle care throughout. You can’t beat homemade welsh cakes. 🙂 Thank you to you also for your welsh contribution. This is a sweetening comfort at its best. 🙂 Lovely. I’m beginning to think this food theme is going to increase my Lockdown eating.

  8. Meic F Haines

    Blasus iawn / Very tasty!! Glad you enjoyed it Chris. Yours conjure up warm comforting kitchen aromas too!

  9. Jenny Jayne

    Two minute escape
    Chocolate relief achieved
    Shame hidden, repeat!!

    Oh dear! Lol

    • Georgia

      This is definitely a pattern many of us relate to! 🙂 I do! A two-minute escape, or often longer, is a great way of putting it, ha! Perfect with a cup of tea. This really captures the relief. Thank you! 🙂

  10. Chris

    I love that Jenny!!
    It’s just me!!
    A stressful day- reach for the chocolate!!!
    I’ve got mine hidden in a tin marked ‘Keep Your Paws Off’

  11. Vivienne

    Sizzling in the pan
    Bacon cockles laverbread
    What a teatime treat

    • Georgia

      I can really feel the homeliness of this one! 🙂 And the aroma in the kitchen. There couldn’t be a better word than “sizzle,” either. It’s quite onomatopoeic. Szzzz. A lovely moment of contentment. 🙂

  12. Jenny Jayne

    Thanks Chris! I’m a self confessed chocoholic! There, I said it! Can’t help myself. I need therapy!! Or chromium!!

  13. Chris

    Darkest chocolate
    Extra cocoa bitter sweet
    Mouth melting heaven

    • Georgia

      I have some of this in the cupboard and I’m looking forward to it! 🙂 ‘Extra cocoa bittersweet’ – so lovely. The last line says it all. Thank you for this, Chris. 🙂

  14. Lotte Williams

    Sourdough starter
    Rises and falls like the news
    A lockdown staple

    • Georgia

      Wow, what a haiku. It says so much in so little space. ‘Rises and falls like the news’ is amazing, Lotte. It definitely is a Lockdown staple for many, and with a similar unpredictable nature. Thanks!

  15. Lotte Williams

    Chris and Jenny… now I really fancy some chocolate! Yum!

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