Poetry

15 Delectable Poems about Food and Eating

15 poems celebrating the food that we love and enjoy. Poems cover classic food poems, odes to specific foods, immigration, children's poems and more.

Elisa Shoenberger

Contributor

Elisa Shoenberger has been building a library since she was 13. She loves writing about all aspects of books from author interviews, antiquarian books, archives, and everything in between. She also writes regularly for Murder & Mayhem and Library Journal. She's also written articles for Huffington Post, Boston Globe, WIRED, Slate, and many other publications. When she's not writing about reading, she's reading and adventuring to find cool new art. She also plays alto saxophone and occasionally stiltwalks. Find out more on her website or follow her on Twitter @vogontroubadour.

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Writers have been thinking and rhapsodizing over the wonders of the culinary world for centuries. Who hasn’t wanted to sing the praises of that perfect peach or your mom’s homemade noodle dish that no place could ever surpass? Here are 15 great poems about food covering odes to particular food items, food and immigration, and food and humor.

Classics

Here are some classic poems about food from eminent authors of old:

Inviting a Friend to Supper by Ben Johnson

“Tonight, grave sir, both my poor house, and I  Do equally desire your company;  Not that we think us worthy such a guest,  But that your worth will dignify our feast  With those that come, whose grace may make that seem  Something, which else could hope for no esteem… Read more here

Goblin Market By Christina Rossetti  

Morning and evening  Maids heard the goblins cry:  “Come buy our orchard fruits,  Come buy, come buy:  Apples and quinces,  Lemons and oranges,  Plump unpeck’d cherries…  Read more here

Odes to a Single Food

These are poems dedicated to a single category of food. Personally, peaches are my preferred poetic food.

From Blossoms By Li-Young Lee 

“From blossoms comes this brown paper bag of peaches we bought from the boy at the bend in the road where we turned toward    signs painted Peaches. Read more here

Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market By Pablo Neruda, Translated by Robin Robertson

Here,    among the market vegetables, this torpedo from the ocean    depths,    a missile    that swam, now    lying in front of me dead. Read more here

The Traveling Onion by Naomi Shihab Nye 

When I think how far the onion has traveled just to enter my stew today, I could kneel and praise all small forgotten miracles… Read more here

Blackberry-Picking  by Seamus Heaney

Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. Read more here

Mutton by Jonathan Swift

Gently stir and blow the fire, Lay the mutton down to roast, Dress it quickly, I desire, In the dripping put a toast… Read more here

Coolness of the Melons by Matsuo Basho, Translated by Robert Hass

Coolness of the melons flecked with mud in the morning dew.

Food and Immigration

Here are poems reflecting on the experience of immigration and connection and alienation from one’s cultural foods.

América By Richard Blanco 

I. Although Tía Miriam boasted she discovered at least half a dozen uses for peanut butter— topping for guava shells in syrup, butter substitute for Cuban toast, hair conditioner and relaxer— Mamá never knew what to make of the monthly five-pound jars handed out by the immigration department until my friend, Jeff, mentioned jelly. Read more here  

Oxtail Stew By David Dominguez 

At five o’clock in the morning, I walked to work and passed the green ponds of Horizon Park where the last bluegill, caught on the low, slight bank, panted hard in the dark mud, crushed glass, sour bottle caps, whiskey, and the iron weight of heat and smog. Read more here

Kids

When talking about food, you have to talk about food in fun and silly ways.

I Wave Good-bye When Butter Flies By Jack Prelutsky 

I wave good-bye when butter flies and cheer a boxing match, I’ve often watched my pillow fight, I’ve sewn a cabbage patch, Read more here

Sorry I Spilled It By Shel Silverstein

The Clean Plater by Ogden Nash

Some singers sing of ladies’ eyes, And some of ladies lips, Refined ones praise their ladylike ways, And course ones hymn their hips. Read more here   I had to include this poem for my dark dark heart. 

The Walrus and the Carpenter By Lewis Carroll 

The sun was shining on the sea,       Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make       The billows smooth and bright — And this was odd, because it was       The middle of the night. Read more here

Appetite Loss

Sometimes we do not want to eat.

The Gourmet’s Love-Song By P.G. Wodehouse

HOW strange is Love: I am not one Who Cupid’s power belittles, For Cupid ’tis who makes me shun My customary victuals. Of, Effie, since that painful scene That left me broken-hearted, My appetite, erstwhile so keen, Has utterly departed. Read more here   Still hungry? Check out this list of 100 books about food or 5 YA books about food!