Your Favorite Sinful Food!

3puppies
Thu, 12 Sep 2019 23:10:56 +0000

I have a different take on the title of this thread. The first time I heard the term “sinful food” I was maybe 5 or 6 years old.

Our neighbors had an antique vineyard that the owners had installed as they used to make grape jelly. We used to play in the vines as a way to beat the indian summer heat. But the old man had been widowed and was barely able to get around - he never tended the vineyard or his orchard.

I was raised to “never eat between meals” and of course, never take something that didn’t belong to me. Stealing is a sin, after all.

But those concord grapes were so ripe, and tempting, and they proved to be so sweet, right off the vine. My older sister and I, and our other neighbor across the street, probably ate two pounds of them each.

It was later that afternoon that I heard my aunt talking with my mom about “sinful foods” they were thinking about making for the church potluck picnic - they were both delighted to have picked a dessert. The guilt of “stealing” overwhelmed me and I started bawling.

My mom didn’t understand, so I confessed, She explained that the neighbor (well, his grown, married daughters who didn’t live there) had told her to please help ourselves to anything in their orchard or the vines. She told me that what we should do would be to go pick a big pot full of the grapes, and make some jelly with them. Then we’d bring some of it over to our neighbor.

It was a lot of work, but I have never had grape jelly taste anywhere near as good as that. It will forever be on top of my “sinful food” list.