Ingredients
2 liters of tap water that remembers a past life.
1 whole beet (must look undisputedly guilty).
Half a cabbage, shredded with mild but palpable passive aggression.
A fistful of cheap table salt.
Sour cream that expires exactly at the moment of serving.
Method
The Initiation: Stare at the water in your heaviest pot until it boils from sheer psychological pressure.
The Root Trauma: Throw the whole beet into the boiling water. Do not chop it. Let it slowly steep in its own inevitability.
The Integration: Dip the cabbage and immediately slam the lid shut. When you hear shrouded thumping as the vegetables fight for dominance in the cauldron, do not intervene.
The Climax: Turn off the heat the exact moment the smell gives you false memories of someone else’s childhood.
The Serving: Scoop only into slightly cracked bowls. Top with sour cream. Eat in absolute silence under a flickering bulb.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Iryna Somkina is a Kyiv-based writer. She is Best Small Fiction nominee; her works appear in Gone Lawn, ANMLY, Heavy Feather Review and everywhere else. She explores ambivalence of intimacy in gritty reality.
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Image: Barszcz – 2023.05.13.jpg
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