Jam and poetry

Do you prefer homemade, or supermarket jams …? A nice piece written in 1936, found pinned to the wall in a friend’s kitchen, which makes a lot of sense today – we share:

The day the economist visited us, was the day we were making our blackcurrant, currant and raspberry jams. The economist immediately began to explain with all sorts of words, figures and formulas, that we were taking the greatest trouble in making our own jams, that it was a middle-age custom, that, considering the price of sugar, fire, pots, and especially the cost of our own time, we had every reason to eat jams that came from the factories and not make our own, that the question seemed settled, that soon nobody in the world would ever again commit such economic fault.

– But, wait, sir! I exclaimed. – Will the merchant sell me what I take is the best of all? – What? asked the economist.– The smell, sir, the smell! The whole house is filled with it. How sad the world would be without the smell of jams!

At these words the economist stood there, open-mouthed. I went on.

– Sir, we actually make our jams just for the smell. The rest does not matter. When jams are made, well! Sir, we just throw them away.

Maybe I got a little carried away, just to dazzle the scientist. This is not entirely true : we eat our jams, in memory of their scent.

Text: Georges Duhamel – Fables of my Garden
Top Photo: Axel Kuhlmann