Piles of Rice or Why the Side of Me That Eats When I Am Not Hungry Is a Member of the Tea Party

This poem sparked the genesis of Diabetes of Democracy; the author’s culinary engagement project inspired 80,000+ audience members over 13 years to exchange their cultural culinary histories, connect with one another over humor and food, and discover their own power toward personal balance. The formation of this text comes from the author’s remixed recall of their culinary past and their desire to construct ritual to banish it all with humor. The author performs it like an actor in a Broadway musical, full of over-the-top peaks and valleys, and over-the-top emotional singing of the jingles.