Food Porn #21: Greatest show on earth


Recommendations:

The Sweet Auburn Curb Market
209 Edgewood Ave., Atlanta, GA 30303
404-659-1665 | www.sweetauburncurbmarket.com

You’ll find many booths serving inexpensive lunches and takeout food. Closed on Sundays.
 
Three favorites are:

Arepa Mia
404-880-8575 | www.arepamiaatlanta.com

Arepas are corn-cake pockets filled with savory ingredients. Try the pabellon, stuffed with shredded beef, black beans, plantains and feta cheese.

Bell Street Burritos
678-732-0488 | www.bellstreetburritos.com

Named one of America’s 10 best burrito joints by USA Today.  Combine shrimp with green chilies, red beans, rice and green sauce. Lunch M-F, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.  A second location, 600 Irwin St.(404-835-2018), is open for lunch and dinner.

Miss D’s New Orleans Pralines
770-256-7164 | www.missdspraline.com

There’s candied this and that here, but no pralines in the city compare to these.

Robert’s kinda-sorta boyfriend Lee set up his touring tent show in part to protest the plan. The idea, as best Robert could figure, was that gay people, long regarded as freaks themselves, were acting unreasonably by trying to limit others’ sexual freedom.

The lights flashed and then darkened slightly. Lee spoke briefly, welcoming the audience to the show. He thanked Robert for his help with the food. “But I also want to thank Alex Wan for giving us a reason to erect our tent amid the beloved sleaze of Cheshire Bridge Road.”

The lights went black and then returned to a soft gray. A woman in her early 70s stepped onstage. 

“My name is Mary Lumis,” she said in a soft voice. “By the standards of many, I am a freak.”

Then, as if out of nowhere, she swung a flaming rod in the air. She threw her head back and slowly put the rod in her mouth, then withdrew it. She seemed to breathe fire.

“This is a dramatic way of illustrating that I’m a so-called fire-breathing, mannish bra-burner from the ‘60s feminist movement. There isn’t really any clear documentation of bra-burning, but I’m happy to play the stereotype. I am also a lesbian.

“Now, in 1969, members of the National Organization for Women, under Betty Friedan’s leadership, began referring to the lesbian wing of the movement as the ‘Lavender Menace.’ They wanted to exclude us because they thought we would inhibit their efforts.”

Mary twirled the flaming rod like a baton. Shawtina, the trans-dwarf, joined her on stage, spinning his plastic revolvers on his forefingers.

“And now,” he shouted, pointing his guns at the audience, “many of you people want to exclude trans and bisexual people from your movement for the same kinds of reasons.”

He held the guns in the air and fired them. The small stage was showered with lavender confetti. “And you want to shove these sex shops into the closet of some undesignated location elsewhere…anywhere.”

Some of the crowd seemed to panic and started to flee when Shawtina pulled out his guns, but most returned to their chairs. The message was not lost. The show continued an hour and word began to spread.

 


Food Porn is a fictional series by longtime Atlanta food critic Cliff Bostock. Set in real Atlanta restaurants, it chronicles the adventures of Robert, a gay man in search of a husband — or at least a good meal. For past chapters, visit www.thegavoice.com