Kate's Global Kitchen: Haiku of Food Contest

Winners Announced!
Haiku of Food Contest

Writers posing as cooks and cooks posing as writers unleashed their talents this summer in the Haiku of Food contest.

Hundreds of truly spirited haikus made judging tough. Some were inspired, aesthetic experiences, others were humorous or poignant, and a few were just plain odd.

The main contest rules stated that each haiku be no more than 18 syllables, and that a food word must appear somewhere in the poem. Sadly, a handful of entries were disqualified because they included more than 18 syllables, like this one which we nonetheless greatly enjoyed for its vivid imagery:

Olives on fingers
Bracelets of brilliant orange peel
Cooking lesson, age four

—Margaret Fowley; m.fowley*m.cc.utah.edu

The Haiku of Food Contest First Place Winner and five Runners Up will receive inspiring Asian cookbook collections from HarperCollins. (Click to view the Contest Prizes and read the Rules.) Our thanks to all contestants and we hope you continue to cook up more food poetry. Here are the final winners of the Haiku of Food Contest:

First Place:

A sweet bay leaf drops
into large pot with the grace
of many small birds

—katze ludeke
redvelvetlilith*hotmail.com

Runners Up:

My first sushi roll
reliving a former life
swam in wasabi

—Britt Kaufmann
brittk*juno.com

* * * * *

It is a hot egg,
singing and crackling, which brings
mother's face to mind

—Caitlyn Ramsey
Boston230@[email-address-removed]

* * * * *

Cabbages sit quietly
sharing secrets
only bunnies can hear

—Shelagh Duffett
duffett*borg.cs.dal.ca

* * * * *

Sipping hemlock tea
by the moonlight, a gambler
erases his debts.

— Jonathan Bernick
jonathan*stenograffiti.com

* * * * *

Lashing waves
defeat icebergs
in the mocha ocean of my blender

—Shubhra Krishan
shubhkrish*hotmail.com

Honorable Mentions

Picking out only six top entries was tough. The following contestants don't receive prizes, but we commend them for their talented, poignant or humorous haikus:

Milk and Cheerios.
Foreheads touching over bowl.
My cat wants some, too.

—Jennifer Bambauer
jenbpeace*hotmail.com

* * * * * *

Pots, pans, and pyro-
technic displays of danger.
God, I love to cook.

— Charles Carson
ccarson*mail.sas.upenn.edu

* * * * * *

I could watch a pot
from small simmer and still miss
why my father left.

—Deborah Bacharach
Bacharach@[email-address-removed]

* * * * * *

Orange peel: your morning
grin. Your arm around my waist
for fifteen years' juice.

—Deborah Bacharach
Bacharach@[email-address-removed]

* * * * * *

A Flash Flood Warning.
How did the weatherman know
I'd just bought onions?

—Melanie Tarrant
mllepooh@[email-address-removed]

* * * * * *

sizzling onions
mother shoos the dogs away
home still feels like home.

—Barbara Albert
oaketreee*hotmail.com

* * * * * *

The Egg, White and Brown
Cracking with a Thunderous Clap
Yellow Eye of Storm

—Brian Liu
Bnliu765*hotmail.com

* * * * * *

Allergic to fish,
She saw sushi in raw terms
As bait—nothing more.

—Mary Summers
msummers*knology.net

* * * * * *

sunrise on the farm —
the curve of fresh-laid eggs
in wicker baskets

—Hortensia Anderson
hortensia*walrus.com

* * * * * *

Poking my sushi
The genteelest of crabs I
Flex my chopstick claw.

—Tom Fox
foxbox*bigfoot.com

* * * * * *

She wakes at dawn,
the embers still burning,
to cook for the world

—Tony Giarrusso
tony.giarrusso*arch.gatech.edu

* * * * * *

he didn't call
she licks the cookie dough
from her fingers

—Carmel Lively
carmel_antique*yahoo.com

* * * * * *

Giant trout and corn
Genetically-modified
But no one suspects.

—Charles Long
cllong*sympatico.ca

* * * * * *

Steak tartare with pork
The epic trichinosis
I miss grandmother

—Christopher Bollweg
ChrisBollweg*CS.com

* * * * * *

Two day old bagels
Need to live on a budget
Eating at half price

—John F. Miller
JudithDMil@[email-address-removed]

* * * * * *

A bagel to go
I said to the nice woman
And she hands me two

—John F. Miller
JudithDMil@[email-address-removed]

* * * * * *

A chipped mug, on
a chipped table, in an
empty diner.

—Jonathan Bernick
jonathan*stenograffiti.com

* * * * * *

In a dark barroom,
a man stares at his whisky...
midwinter blizzards.

—Jonathan Bernick
jonathan*stenograffiti.com

* * * * * *

French cooking.
Once undertaken,
Is a dishwasher's regret.

—Linda Smith
gr8cekelli@[email-address-removed]

* * * * * *

Mother and daughter
making cookies together.
Eternal laughter.

—Caranelle Shankle
careshankle*hotmail.com

* * * * * *

Flowers and candy
Homecooked meal spiced with love then,
a temper tantrum

—Georgia Atkin
otl96*earthlink.net

* * * * * *

New yuppie couple
have quick candle-lit dinner:
Microwave love-in

—John Todras
johntodras*Yahoo.com

* * * * * *

Pungent streams of smoke
From the oven door
No dinner tonight

—Sally Sibthorpe
sally.sibthorpe*eds.com

* * * * * *

Write a recipe
in seventeen syllables
is very diffic

—Janet Levin
levin_janet*hotmail.com

* * * * * *

Note: To prevent spammers from automatically gathering email addresses off this page we have replaced the @ symbol with an * (asterisk).

Kate Heyhoe
The Global Gourmet

Kate's Global Kitchen for September, 2001:

09/01/01 Scoring Points
09/08/01 Last Blast Gazpacho: Tomato and Watermelon at Summer's End
09/15/01 Smokin' Rosemary
09/22/01 Winners Announced: Haiku of Food Contest
09/29/01 The Misleading Curry Leaf

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This page created September 2001

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Winners Announced! Haiku of Food Contest

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Honorable Mentions

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