Why eat the roses?

A friend asked me, after me showing this blog to him:  Why “eat the roses“?

The simple answer is:  Why not?  Roses are delicious–in form of turkish delight, or Persian rosewater ice cream, or Armenian/Southern European rose petal conserve–the roses are a divine addition to one’s kitchen, much like lavender, which is yet another entirely edible, delicious, and rather overlooked herb where food is concerned.

And there are so many overlooked and forgotten and delectable things that are edible, but aren’t normally stocked labelled as “food” in supermarkets – or they are, but they sulk in a corner of a shelf forgotten, because the most recently popular celebrity chef hasn’t mentioned them in their past 8 books.  And so people grow up not thinking of them as such – and in many (if not all) cases, it’s a crying shame.

image courtesy http://www.formaggiokitchen.com/

The longer and slightly but not much more complicated answer is, because I believe in doing everything to the fullest and enjoying it.  In that light,  “When travelling the road of life, don’t forget to stop and smell the roses” seems an entirely anemic and insufficient attitude for me.  Because if I like something, and it’s as evidently edible and delicious as roses are, I damned well will not stop at smelling it.  I may smell it at first, and then eat it.  Happily and with gusto.

I choose to live my life by the quote from R. A. Heinlein: “Eat life with big bites.  Moderation is for monks.“  I’ve not had cause to regret it yet.