TY - JOUR AU1 - Truong, Monique AB - 120 • southerncultures.org // NOT FORGOTTEN The Rarest of Senses E CANNOT UNDERSTAND the power and the meaning of food until we understand hunger. Hunger at its most basic is the lack of food, and therefore a body’s need and craving for food. W If we are very lucky in this world, we feel hunger as a minor physical discomfort that can be readily sated: a sandwich to go, a bag of chips from a vending machine, a cup of soup in the microwave. Hunger, of course, can also mean a craving for something that food represents or promises but somehow has failed to deliver to us. The ritual of sitting down to a meal, is this not the theater of community and family? Eating a dish prepared by someone who cares for you and your well-being, is this not the tangible representation of love and caring? Then, there’s the intake of flavors, vivid and deep, nurtured by the sunlight above and the earth beneath our feet, is this not the epitome of a sense of place and the pleasure of belonging? It’s this latter form of hunger—the hunger of the spirit more so than the body, though they TI - The Rarest of Senses JF - Southern Cultures DA - 2019-07-10 UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/university-of-north-carolina-press/the-rarest-of-senses-hhaCTe17ox SP - 120 EP - 124 VL - 25 IS - 2 DP - DeepDyve