This contest is now closed! Thanks to everyone who participated! I think this year has some of the best entries ever.
Presenting the 2012 “fooku”, Portland Food and Drink’s annual food haiku contest. Once again I have partnered with Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation at JELD-WEN Field. The winner will receive two general-admission tickets for the event on Tuesday May 8th (a $170 value). Tickets will be mailed to winner before the event.
“Taste of the Nation Portland will raise critical funds needed to support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in Oregon and across the nation.” You can read more information about the event at www.portlandtaste.org. If you planning to attend, you might want to read our “Taste of the Nation: a Battle Plan” here.
Sharpen your pencils and wax poetic! You can read some of the winning entries from the past below; they are wonderful!
The rules are pretty simple. Your entry must be in haiku format. The ancient art of haiku requires precision: a five syllable first line; seven syllable second line; and five syllable third line. Many haiku features a last line that works like a friendly elbow in the ribs. We only ask that your entry be about food or wine.
[A syllable is a part of a word capable of being pronounced by a single impulse of the voice. I’m sure someone can explain this more simply than me, but it’s the way the word rolls off of the tongue. “Cat” is one syllable. “Be-cause” is two. “Syl-la-ble” is three.]
Check out the winning entries from earlier years below for ideas and to get the feel of haiku. Have fun! Please leave your entries in the comment section of this post, one entry per comment. Entries will close on Tuesday April 17th at 9am.
Here are winning haiku from past years:
2011
By Kassie Halpin Robinson:
Fresh, raw, exquisite:
Salmon’s salt, tang, rests on pearls
Wasabi bursts through
By What’s for supper?:
The comfort of food
Shared with family and friends
Saved me this hard year.
By AmandaAngelaMarjorie:
sips bubbly and cooks
sizzling greens in garlic cloves
low spring moon hangs full
2009
By Mark:
Morning coffee brews
Melting butter on warm toast
The furnace kicks in
By Maria W.
Give me some pasta
forkfuls of love and ruin.
The wine’s nearly gone.
By Maria W:
Farmers Market says
“no dogs this year.” May I bring
Spot, my truffle pig?
2008
By MySwanDive:
inhale swirls of cab
palate warmed, bask in the fire
newly lit like me
By Zac Stafford:
He cooked with passion.
The real reason we broke up?
Knives in dishwasher
2007
By CookForHire:
sound of meat browning
feel of knife through vegetable:
a true cook’s reward
By Womby:
at last, no jacket
instead, i grab sunglasses
soon come the favas
By Truth:
airy is the crumb
earthy, this crust of Pearl
heavenly, the smell
2006
By Fathom:
Now forego the fork
Hold close this slice of heaven
Perfect on a crust
By Pam:
Champagne, strawberries
and you, here in my warm bed.
Who cares if it rains?
By Witzend:
How bad could it be?
Real bad. Think Hung Far Low bad.
Ok, fine! YOU choose.
Local, organic,
Sustainably produced wine
Eat, drink, be merry
tentacles chopped short
hit with golden aioli
pulpo perfection
My plate sits empty
I’m so hungry for your art
Put a bird on it!
The chop of a knife.
A steak searing on a pan.
Music to my ears.
Marjoram, fennel,
Savory, Lavender, Thyme
Take me to Provence.
Red raspberries pop
Fragrant tartness into lips
Open for their kiss
Pinot plays terroir
Pleasing palates drinking grapes
Grown so lovingly
Earth, sun, and rain help
Seeds grow into succulence
All for sustenance
No fat and sugar —
I cook for Mommy dearest.
Then I eat it too.
Deer ate my garden.
They took heirloom tomatoes,
let the Romas be.
Syrah/shiraz rocks
excluding scents of stinky
cheese and rancid socks.
Little puffs of dough
Gently rolling over fork
Stay together now
Ammonia pink slime?
What does the FDA do?
Wish foie was pink too!
Oregon is home
To food wine and beer
Reason to move here!
Restaurants galore
Pok Pok, Andina and more
“Food Dude” is lucky
Sniff, swirl, sip, savor
Like, love… it takes you over
Is this about wine?
On the Internet,
Everyone is a goddamned
Critic. Or Yelper.
Yeast starter bubbling
Rye flour covers tickled nose
Old mixer churns slow
Typically haiku is supposed to focus on themes in nature, but I quickly argued in class and maintain the argument today, that everything that surrounds us is nature because it all exists within the natural world. Sure, a tree that grew without being .
one word: fooku
sorry, can’t help it …….. LOL
Ginger cookies and
Fried pork skin with my father.
Snap, crackle and pop.
Hug this tree for luck
Says my son before we rake.
Glorious truffles.
grapes, wondersome wine
refined elixir of gods
where did it all go?
Garden tomatoes
Simmer slow all afternoon
Nonna adds pork steak
Terroirists please shush!
This shit was flown overnight!
FRESH! You damned commie!
Make the list and shop
Wash vegetables and chop
Heat the wok don’t stop
Bruschetta dressed with
Bright favas flavored with thyme:
We salute the spring.
Snipping fava tops
Fruit that furthers future yield
Live for tomorrow
Gluten free, soy free,
Nut free, dairy free, eggless,
Delicious. Bacon.
Hummous, O hummous…
Bereft of worthy pita,
Eaten with finger!
I make chicken soup
Memories of grandmother
Recalling her smile
“Contains raw egg.” Hmm.
Can I — Oh. “Substitutions
Politely declined.”
it’s quite ironic
eat and drink to help the poor
taste of the nation
today it rains hard
tomorrow there will be sun
pinot noir comes soon
Can’t pronounce this cheese!
Cow or sheep? Quick – Google it!
Here comes our waiter!
Are these greens local?
You don’t know? Seriously?
Lose a star on Yelp.
Wine filled our glasses,
Lingered on your lips, so I
Drank too much of both.
Privilege: noun. A
Tempeh and soy curl rice bowl
Topped with pork belly
to err is human
and to forgive is divine
I served red with fish
crappy day at work.
i start to chop some garlic
the stress melts away.
one more little bite-
I need to put down the fork.
Damn! pasta is good!
I can’t love a man
that does not comprehend why
growing food is fun
Enormous comfort-
like my mother’s warm embrace-
mashed potatoes. Yum.
Table full of apps
Entrees have become passe
Small eats means more eats
Pour, shuck, sip then slurp
Bubbles, oysters; what a pair
Life without a care
Long Pork and a pint.
Dead guy ale pairs very well.
You are what you eat.