In Praise of a Courgette

By luigi_pagano

Mon, 29 Apr 2019
  • 830 reads
4 comments
 
We write about flowers
whilst we tend to forget
horticultural vegetables
like zucchini or courgette.
 
That no eulogy exists
I am rather amazed.
This humble produce
should also be praised.
 
It belongs to the species
called Cucurbita pepo;
if too many are produced
may be stored in a depot.
 
But very low quantities
of the green baby marrow
can be grown in a plot
that is quite narrow.
 
It looks like a cucumber
as the shape is crooked
but unlike its counterpart
it has to be cooked.
 
The emergent zucchini
has flowers that are edible
and do not cause problems
for a sensitive mandible.
 
When they're used for food
the cooking is improved
if pistils and stamens
are firstly removed.
 
Zucchini is a diminutive
of the Italian word zucca
used at first in Milan
then repeated in Lucca.
 
© Luigi Pagano 2019
Certificate U
Poem
Mutevoli pensieri
Nature

Comments

Submitted by Di_Hard on

masterful rhymes! particularly liked pepo and depot, imagining forklifts zooming around loaded with piles of courgettes :0)

 

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

My brain is attuned to thinking rhymes and depot was the word that immediately came to mind. I had a chuckle, just as you did, imagining fork lift trucks travelling through the aisles filling shelves with courgettes. Then I remembered that people where doing something similar, stockpiling goods in warehouses fearing the consequence of a 'no deal' Brexit.
Could I leave without being able to avail myself of baby marrows? No way, Jose' I said.
That was an attempt at humour but I had to reassess my reasoning when I read the following:
" According to figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Britain imported 18,141 tonnes of courgettes from Spain in 2008 and 5,734 tonnes of courgettes from France."​(https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/agriculture/food/4333812/Harsh-wi...).
It seemed a case of life imitating fiction. So there we are: a feasible crisis!

Kind regards, Di.

Luigi x

 

 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

courgette crisis comes closer!!! curcubita catastrophe as courgette quantities crash!!! population forced to eat sprouts all year!!!

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Sorry Di.I won't have anything to do with Brussels!

Cheers, Luigi x