Category: Flavor Town USA

Calling all gluttons, picky eaters, fry cooks, servers: get on the grill with the burnt edges for HFR. Welcome to “Flavor Town USA,” where food writing takes on a whole new spin.

Two Poems for Flavor Town USA: John Gallaher

Some Details We Missed On the Tour You open it, start. And leave it open, to return to. But the mood perhaps never strikes. Sorry, I was just thinking of the vacuum decay death of the universe again, that should’ve happened by now, and I guess I got a bit ahead of myself. Lavender is…
New Poem for Flavor Town USA: “Abundance” by Caleb Hill

IA can of pumpkin squats besidethe Korean bowl given by my aunt, the poor stone potwhere my culinary brainwaves come to rest, adoptedfor concoctions like this morning’s. My favoritelong-handled teaspoon rushes through the roundsof unlidded ingredients: crumbled feta, pickled olives, peppers, fish,cinnamon and sesame, allspice and onions,split peas shoehorned into cornbread, mozzarella melted inwith mounds…
Fiction for Flavor Town USA: “The Short, Crazy Marriage of Bubba Verboten and Myrtle Bellagamba” by Eli S. Evans

Bubba There was a building in Bubba Verboten’s neighborhood, a windowless brick building with a big electronic sign hanging from the facade that said, in black letters over a pixelated green background: “Desire.” “Maybe I should check it out,” thought Bubba. “In fact, I think I will. After all, what do we want out of…
Three Fictions for Flavor Town USA: Elissa Matthews

Roast Duck with Plum Sauce At two in the morning my mother phones, waking me. Insomnia, fear, and the need to talk have overwhelmed her once again. There’s pain between us—some open wounds, some badly healed ones, some jagged scars—but we both know we have only a few months left. “I’m hungry,” she says. “Make…
Flavor Town USA Poetry: “Oranges” by Laurel Benjamin

A woman has taken a man into the kitchen, shows him the panstripped of its black coat—Taken years to form, she says, and grabs the unscented orange cleanser, like pickingthe tree, a globe ready to burst. She dreams the past, gurney ride down a hallway, and under the gas she’s breast-stroking in the pool with…
Poetry from Flavor Town USA: “Death Is on the Menu” by Anthony Cappo

Morning groggy, anxiety spike, and stumble out the door. Café smells of coffee, French toast, and menace. Every morning death on the menu. Maybe not written— might be down-low house special— but always there. You can’t “86” death. Chills the forks and spoons lying on the table. It looks slimming, grins the maître d’. The…
Flavor Town USA Nonfiction: “Jubilee” by Anne Panning

I. It was the cheapest, one-ingredient, fiercely-anticipated summer meal for a Midwestern family of six—corn on the cob. Our favorite variety: Jubilee. II. At 16, I worked the cutter belt at Big Stone Canning Factory. Every morning I biked down on my rickety ten-speed then headed in to suit up: hairnet, hardhat, orange earplugs dangling…
Poetry for Flavor Town USA: “Exercise for Beginners” by Marc Janssen

Do people breathe differentlyWhen they are running in their dreams?I had a dog that would run in his sleep,His feet would quiver as he chased chipmunks up trees made of canine fantasy.Eyes movingScanning the inside of his lids. I wish there was a dreaming dietWhere I could run marathons while unconscious,And in the morning, wake…
“Hot Dog Exclusivity”: New Short Fiction for Flavor Town USA by Avery Gregurich

The people of Icon are celebrating their independence just as they have for centuries: with a contest of eaters. It’s hot throughout Icon. The national flags wave upside down on poles outside the pods of some of the people tuning in on their HomeScreens to watch the eaters. Most of those people actually hunger to…