9/01/2011

Forgetting the Self

lost in the first bite

When you take your first bite, SELF CONSCIENCE is lost. You don't care how many chins you have at that moment, you don't care how much mustard and ketchup is dribbling down onto your shirt. You don't care how savage and reckless the expression on your face has become.

For that moment, you are an animal. and it's ok.

All that matters is getting that first chomp down the hatch.

Hope

When you take your first bite, you have all the hope in the world. It's like being a child again, anything is possible. This sandwich may be the best sandwich you have ever tasted.


What we saw at the Red Robin

It must have been five years ago when it happened. We had just seen the pixar animation movie CARS, and the family piled into the minivan for the short ride across the parking lot from the mall theatre to the mall restauraunt. It was one of those franchises that seem to gravitate to malls but are caught in orbit at the edge of the concrete parking area. The place had the ammusement-park feel of a constructed reality, retro-diner style. Evereywhere there were bright lights and colors and plastic and suburbanites.

We were all very hungry and anxious to get at our food, but the place was jam-packed so we had to wait a while before we got a table. Once at the table, we had to wait a while to order the burgers. FINALLY, the order was in, and we could relax, continue to salivate at the plates brought to our neighbors, converse, do anything we had to to pass the time.

Mary and I were too old to get free crayons and a colorable place-mat, so we just sat there looking around. Our eyes scanned across the tables; here was a young mother trying to get her toddler to eat a chicken nugget; there was an older couple sitting quietly across from each other nibbling on the plate of fries they shared. All typical people watching experiences for a mall restauraunt. And then, at the same fateful moment, we both looked over to the table kitty corner from us and our eyes settled upon the same kid. And what we witnessed gave birth to this project. A monumnetal FIRST BITE.


The Moment

a closer look at the first first bite



He had to use both hands to support the burger. He spread his fingers wide along the rear end of it to keep any of the many toppings and condiments from slipping out. He took a deep breath, unhinged his lower jaw by sliding his mandible back and forth a few times, and then opened his mouth wider than I thought possible. His eyebrows rose as he strained with his whole forehead to get his mouth as large as possible, his eyes rolled wildly down at the sandwich like a frightened horse, and he dove in for his FIRST BITE.