The Real Food Heroes

Hog butcher for the world,
Tool maker,
Stacker of wheat
And the nation’s freight handler….

I could go over and over on that Carl Sandburg’s passionate poem, “Chicago”, but I just came up with a marketplace poetry – a simple tribute to the food heroes. But this is not even poetry, by the way. And if there’s one wish I could make right now and make it come true- right here, right now, then I wish to have the photography skills of Sidney.

I am always impressed by happiness.
My food hero is a happy coconut man

Lovely seafood ladies whose radiance will put soap commercials to shame…

The jolly lobster man at a Sunday market (who knows he looks like Manny Pacquiao and proud of it)

A farmer in deep concentration on the precision of his measurements who believes firmly: That to waste food is to waste life.

A fishmonger working with a fully- painted face, trendy haircut, a Loony Toon shirt and exudes the confidence of a beauty queen;

Or a child who has his own style of peddling his wares. Miles to go before he sleeps… And miles to go before he sleeps.

My favorite food hero is a feisty manang who sells bagoong and knows the difference of a one- half kilo shrimp paste from a one- fourth.

Not a politician whose face is pasted all over the place.