Essay 1- Food Narrative: Jared Sims

A movie necessity, as some may call it, does not do this snack food justice. Being sold at grocery stores, theatres, and almost every type of event you could list, Popcorn is a classic. Who would think that little kernels could be popped into such an obsessive food? With flavors ranging from caramel to cheesy, popcorn is a very versatile food. Aside from the wide variety of flavors of popcorn, there are numerous ways to literally pop the popcorn. The microwave has become the most common form of popping popcorn in a home. Larger venues such as theatres and concession stands have large machines specially designated to pop and store the popcorn.
Popcorn is definitely one of a kind. If you take time to look at a kernel you realize how unique the finished product of popcorn is. Popcorn transitions from being a hard circular seed to a soft chewy substance.
As a child, every time I would spend the night at my grandparent’s house my grandfather would pop popcorn at night. He had a special popper that he always used that stirred the seeds into a circular motion under heat that would eventually force the soft chewy part to come out of its seed. We would always watch a movie and eat popcorn right before I went to sleep.
From the early years, my grandfather always had a part in raising me. My grandfather was the father figure in my life as my mother raised me as a single parent. He was your typical southern outdoorsmen. If you were an Auburn fan, you would not dare step a foot inside his house. Every University of Alabama football game, you could hear him yelling from other rooms when Alabama would do something good. As a child, he took me fishing and hunting every opportunity that he had. He was always there for me whenever I needed any kind of male guidance or advice as I headed into my teenage years. He made sure that I was being raised as a southern gentleman.
My family vacationed every summer together at our lake houses on Lake Panasoffkee, FL. I can remember every night when I walked into my grandparent’s lake house I could smell popcorn being popped. It wasn’t long from the time I set foot in the house before he stuck his head around the corner and asked me if I wanted some. We’d watch the news and devour those small chewy morsels like it was our job.
It was evident that my grandfather’s favorite snack food was popcorn. The love of popcorn was passed down to me, as I eat it on a regular basis. It is impossible for me to watch a movie without eating popcorn simultaneously, if I’m not it just doesn’t feel right.
I remember the day my grandfather died like the back of my hand. It was my eighth grade year right before our first junior varsity football game. My grandfather was diagnosed with cancer a month before he passed so I knew it was coming, just not that soon. I had been busting my tail at practice and had won the starting job at wingback because I wanted him to see me play while he could. A week before our first game my grandfather passed away. I couldn’t concentrate on football because I was overwhelmed with emotions.
The first game rolled around quick and I didn’t feel ready to play. Coaches knew what I was going through and were hesitant to start me for this reason. As we were running out on the field, we passed our concession stand, where I saw a woman scooping popcorn out of a popcorn machine. I couldn’t help but to smile, thinking about my grandfather’s love of popcorn. After seeing the popcorn, I thought in my head that my grandfather would be proud if he was there to watch me play. One of my coaches came up to me and asked me if I thought that I should start wingback in the game. There wasn’t anything in this world that would have stopped me from starting that game, I wanted to play to make my grandfather proud. We won the game and it helped with a lot of the emotions I was going through.
I was called over to my grandmother’s house the following Saturday to get some stuff that my grandfather told my grandmother he wanted me to have. I sat down with my grandmother, as we were talking; she was telling me everything he wanted to leave for me. She showed me the list and I saw the popcorn maker on the list which prompted me to feel sad, not that I didn’t want it, but because it made me think of him.
As I mentioned before, I was raised by just my mother growing up. Losing my grandfather, which was my main fatherly figure in my life, came hard. I knew I had to grow up a lot, but being fourteen years old, it wasn’t easy to process. Throughout most of high school, I had to find a lot of things the hard way without a fatherly figure to advise me.
The whole theory of popcorn being popped amazed me as a child, but meant a lot more to me after everything was said and done. I had to come out of my shell and mature to be there for my mom. Popcorn is a simple shell but when put under heat comes out and evolves into a completely different thing. I was put under pressure to take on a lot of responsibilities that required me to become more of a man without my grandfather there to help me.
Before I moved to Tuscaloosa, I was going through everything that I owned to pick out what I wanted to bring. Going through everything brought back a lot of memories, but especially when I came upon the popcorn maker. It made me think of all the memories I had with my grandfather and how proud he would be that I was going to the University of Alabama.
It amazes me how such a simple snack food like popcorn could have so much meaning to it. Many people associate popcorn with theatres and events, but to me, the simple popcorn kernel means so much more.