The Health-food Diner
The Health-food Diner - context Summary
Published in and Still I Rise
Published in Maya Angelou’s 1978 collection And Still I Rise, this short comic poem positions a speaker stubbornly resistant to contemporary health-food trends. Its plain, conversational voice catalogs unpopular vegetarian dishes and counters them with cravings for traditional meat preparations. The poem functions as light satire and character portrait rather than political manifesto: it registers appetite, social fashion, and personal pleasure. Knowing its publication in 1978 helps readers place its tone alongside other poems in Angelou’s late-1970s work, where humor and self-assured voice often temper sharper themes.
Read Complete AnalysesThe Health-Food Diner No sprouted wheat and soya shoots And Brussels in a cake, Carrot straw and spinach raw, (Today, I need a steak). Not thick brown rice and rice pilaw Or mushrooms creamed on toast, Turnips mashed and parsnips hashed, (I'm dreaming of a roast). Health-food folks around the world Are thinned by anxious zeal, They look for help in seafood kelp (I count on breaded veal). No smoking signs, raw mustard greens, Zucchini by the ton, Uncooked kale and bodies frail Are sure to make me run to Loins of pork and chicken thighs And standing rib, so prime, Pork chops brown and fresh ground round (I crave them all the time). Irish stews and boiled corned beef and hot dogs by the scores, or any place that saves a space For smoking carnivores.
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