i think you'll agree that it's true
i don't spend a lot of time talking about food
i'm just not oriented towards taste
of my five senses its the one i care about the least

but in my life there have been a handful of meals
so memorable that i recall every detail
and the memories stay with me across the years
so if you're not into the nexus of food and emotion, cover your ears

gonna share these stories in three parts
each sounding a little different from this section at the start
cos i'm aware that this is a bit too easy-listening
like the hold music on the phone with the garage fixing my transmission

but like any good intro i want to grab your attention
and assure you that these dining stories are worth your retention
cos each one taught me something about myself and the world
and our unbreakable bonds with each other and the sea and the air and the earth and the dirt

so if you decide to spend the next few minutes
in three different places with three different palettes
i can only offer my heartfelt thanks
in and two cases a restaurant recommendation you can take to the bank

ok what are we saying? is it time to insert a comma?
and move on from this music that feels too much like bahamas
not the beautiful country but the utterly irrelevant band
(no no it's cool, don't worry man)

...


so the first stop on this tour is a very small town called mallaig
on the northeast tip of scotland, the last stop on the train
most people get off the train and grab the ferry to the isle of skye
but it was late and we were tired so we decided to spend the night

it was 2004 and i'd been living outside of edinburgh
away from my first serious girlfriend who stayed home in winnipeg
to save money to come see me and when she did that may
my parents bought us a train pass valid for seven days

so we travelled all over and it was a real experience for me
cos back in edinburgh working in a bar for months i'd been so lonely
i hadn't made a lot of friends and i often felt like an outsider
even when i was surrounded by people protesting the iraq war

now we were together and it was such a fucking relief
the well of loneliness and isolation had filled up so deep inside of me
it was ready to burst and i needed it to but i was only twenty two
and expressing emotion and weakness wasn't part of anything i knew how to do

so that night in mallaig we checked into a small room
and decided to walk the main street of the town to find some food
we found a place called the cabin on a corner straight across from the docks
it looked like it had been there for centuries, half buried in the rocks

from the moment we walked in, i felt the knots loosening inside
it was warm, it was comfortable, it was home, everything felt right
we were hungry and it smelled so good and we got a table by the window
and as we looked out at the ocean i knew i was letting go

of the tension i'd been carrying for nearly half a year all alone
trying to figure out who i was and what i was about far away from my home
now i felt safety and support and comfort and like i was in the right place
i ordered the fish and chips and a heather ale

and when it all arrived and i started into it everything came loose
it was the best fish and chips i'd ever eaten and keep in mind i was living in the uk
and when the taste of the heather ale crossed my lips
it was like i'd died and been buried and i'd arisen

it was earthy and floral and felt like sanctified ground
had been bottled and lost for centuries and suddenly found
and served to me cold on this table in the corner of the planet
and the tears welled up in my eyes and i let go, and this meal began it

so that's the story of how i was brought to tears by fish
and chips and heather ale in a warm cabin in the ocean mist
i've never been back and i'm not convinced i would even want to
cos when a memory so beautiful locks in you shouldn't spoil it, just keep it to hold onto

...

i was in honduras in 2009
hard to believe that was just five years later, feels like another life
i'd grown up so much from anti-war marches in london
to facing up tanks with a video camera during a coup in tegucigalpa

so my second memorable meal was during that time
i was documenting abuses of human rights
one day in late november i hopped into a van
and drove to small town in the south with a guy from an organization called fian

we stopped at a house where a group of people had gathered
in a sitting area in a back room that opened onto a courtyard
there were probably 25 or 30 people all together
to share their stories of military violence and terror

my spanish wasn't great and i felt a little out of place
but i listened and i took notes and i still remember the face
of a man in his late 60s holding a shard of a skull
of his son who was shot by the soldiers as he was trying to run

one after another, these people told their stores
my brain was so fried, i'd been doing this for weeks
i was hardly sleeping and i was emotionally burnt out
but here was a kid showing me his bruises while his mother was shouting

so my colleague from fian and i documented everything
and when we were finished i thanked them for their courage and started packing my things
as we were leaving someone said no no no no and insisted we stay for dinner
and honestly we were both really hungry so

i had one of the tastiest and most meaningful meals of my life
it was tortilla soup and corn and beans and chicken and rice
with thirty some people all packed around a few tables
the heaviness of the day replaced by a lightness that to describe, i'm not able

it was eating the way eating is meant to be
surrounded by laughter and love and a sense of community
we stayed late into the night and i felt connected to something
so important and real and rooted in the bonds of close living

when we drove back to the city we brought a few people with us
there were checkpoints everywhere and someone had to hide under some canvas
in the back of the truck and i don't remember exactly why
but i remember thinking whatever fucking happens please don't let this man die

no one in our party died though a few have been killed since
it's a bad situation and i've written about it
but i'll be forever grateful i was brought into someone's home
to share a meal and be part of humanity doing something so old

just eating, sitting with other people and sharing a delicious meal
it's what people have done as long as people have been people
it's one of the oldest ways we know how to connect with one another
whether with friends around a fire or in a cabin beside the water

...

the third tale in this trilogy was in 2016
and it might be anti climatic after the intensity of danli
there's no shooting or danger of any kind in this story
just a hot day in granada and a slice of humanity

granada is full of interesting artists
who make interesting music in venues built in caves in the cliffs
enrique morente grew up on flamenco in the albaicin
and the music that they make has had a major impact on me

on our way into town from the airport in a taxi
we asked the driver if he had any recommendation for where to eat
and he thought about and said that his favourite spot
was los diamantes and it was just up the block

i was there with someone whom i cared about a lot
but it was unmistakable that our relationship was on the rocks
this was to be the last trip we would take together
we were trying to get along despite the forty degree weather

so we arrived in the city hungry and hot and edgy
and los diamantes was close to where we were staying
so we took the cabbie's advice and i was glad when he said
'there's not many tourists there, it's all people like me instead'

the aesthetic of the restaurant was not my usual style
it was all white high-top tables that stretched twenty seats wide
and the lighting was bright and neon and kitchen was wide open
it was chaotic and loud and not what i would normally go for

but that place and that moment was exactly what i needed
we'd been miserable and isolated and now we were surrounded by people
families, kids, abuelas, aunties and everyone packed tight
at these long communal tables of bright white

nearly everything they served was from the sea and deep fried
we ordered calamari and anchovies and prawns and every time
they brought us a new plate they also brought us a small glass of lager
it was complimentary to help wash down all the salty gambas

i don't recall for certain if this seafood made me cry
but i know that for the couple hours we were in there i was in a kind of high
the food was so fresh and tasty and the beer was so cold
and the crowd inside was bustling and i didn't feel too young, and i didn't feel too old

it was seriously around 42 degrees outside in southern spain
but los diamantes was cool and energetic and local and strange
and as people jostled and shouted and laughed and ate fish
i let it all wash over me like a man granted his dying wish

and i would have happily said my last goodbye to the world in that place
it was the highlight of that trip and that summer and it chased
away all my worries, briefly, which at that time were many
to be surrounded by beautiful people just living their lives made me so happy