Hunky and Dory in the Kingdom of Food

This is the story of two brothers, Hunky and Dory, citizens of the Kingdom of Food…

The Kingdom of Food was a small but influential kingdom, part way between Here and There, bordered on one side by a forest and on the other by a deep chasm. The Kingdom of Food was a quite exclusive kind of kingdom: there was absolutely no way to become a citizen except by being born as one. There were no provisions in the Food Kingdom for such things as purchased citizenship, or marrying a citizen, or being educated to the point of becoming a citizen. The only way was to be born, and Hunky and Dory were very happy that they had been. Many times they had said to one another, “Think of it! Out of all the people on this planet, you and I are citizens of the Kingdom of Food! Wow!”

This was a fairly common sentiment among the citizens, so that they wanted to do all they could for the advancement of the Kingdom. To this end, many organized informal cookbook study groups in their homes to aid the other citizens to gain a proper understanding of food. These were very popular, spreading even to school dormitories and military bases. Many of the citizens were so inspired by these that they would get up early each morning to read a recipe or two by themselves before going to work. They memorized many ingredients and could rattle off whole recipes for everything from flapjacks to well-done Chateaubriand steak. A few, who were more devoted persons, went to special schools to learn more about food, paying special attention to the various scholarly theories of nutrition, as well as advanced language study to prevent any possible error in translating recipes. An entire organization even came into being for the sole purpose of producing cookbooks in many different languages.

On a certain day each week all the citizens of the Food Kingdom gathered in many large stainless steel and chrome kitchens to listen to an authority (most often a graduate of one of the special schools) give a talk on a certain aspect of Food, or elaborate on a certain favorite recipe. If he were a well-known person, a large hall might be rented so that more could come to hear him. These weekly kitchen meetings were thought by many to be as essential to the Food Kingdom as the cookbook itself.

There was a problem, however — nearly all of the people in the Kingdom of Food were undernourished and hungry, although not many of them would admit it. This produced an inner frustration unequalled in any society: they knew from their cookbook reading and from their kitchen talks that Food alone was sufficient to give them strength and see them through every situation; food was all that they needed. They would die before denying that. But what about that hungry feeling inside…? Most tried to quench it by more cookbook study, going to more kitchen talks, or by volunteering for a utensil-and-pan polishing summer project in some far-off place. Yet, no matter what the citizens of the Food Kingdom tried, it was of no use, for the hungry feeling persisted.

Every citizen of the Kingdom of Food could remember at least once (usually when he was very, very young) when that hungry feeling had not been there. Some, too, had a recollection that from time to time, and then seemingly by accident, something had happened that had temporarily erased that hunger, but none could remember exactly what had happened and no one had been able to repeat the experience at will. All they knew was that sometimes that hungry feeling was gone. But, sadly, most of the time it was very present.

One day, as Hunky was reading his cookbook, part way through the fourth recipe of the fourth section of the new portion, he found this phrase: “…must eat food with the mouth.” He had never seen that word “mouth” used in quite that way before. He looked up “mouth” in the index of his cookbook and read every reference carefully. He had always been taught that his mouth and his ear were the same, so he had assumed that hearing about food was good enough; but here were several places (and in his very own Cookbook, too!) that seemed to show that his ear and his mouth were not the same, and what was more, that he could actually eat food if he could only find out where his mouth was and how to use it! His thoughts raced back to a few months before, when he had heard a remark about some kind of kitchen meeting on the other side of town that was considered somewhat strange because of their talk about “something called their mouth…”  Hunky decided to go see.

He practically ran to the address. When he got there he was surprised in that he didn’t find the usual stainless steel and chrome, but rather a plain place that hardly looked like a kitchen at all. As he approached, he could tell that those inside weren’t waiting for the meeting to begin, but he wasn’t so sure just what was happening.

As he came through the front door, he saw a large room crowded with tables, each table having a great amount of food on it. He recognized that it was food because many times he had seen pictures of food in his cookbook and at some of the kitchen-meetings that he had been to. Some of his friends had cookbooks with a roast chicken on the front, and one kitchen-meeting he had been to had a large mosaic standing rib roast on the front of the building. He had read and heard many detailed descriptions of food, especially when some of the ones giving the kitchen talks had shared about the early days when the kitchens were first formed; so he recognized food when he saw it. The only thing was that he couldn’t tell just what these people were doing with the food. He had never seen anything like it before, and for a moment he doubted that people like this could tell him anything he didn’t already know. Remembering, however, the purpose of his visit, he walked up to a man standing near him just inside the entryway.

“Excuse me,” Hunky said, “what group is this?” “Oh, we’re just citizens of the Kingdom of Food,” the man replied, smiling. “What are they doing?” Hunky ventured, gesturing toward the others. “Oh, just enjoying the food,” was the reply. That perplexed Hunky a bit. “Enjoying the food…” he thought. That didn’t sound quite right. Food, Hunky had been taught, was to be held in esteem, not to be “enjoyed”! He had known a lot of folks who knew a lot about food and the cookbook, but he never had heard one of them talk about enjoying food.

“What do you mean, ‘enjoying the food’?” he further asked the man. “I mean just using your mouth to eat the food and take it into you. ”Mouth…eat — there were those words again. “This must be the place,” thought Hunky, a bit excited. “I was just reading today about eating by using your mouth,” Hunky said, “but frankly, I didn’t understand it so much. Aren’t the ear and the mouth the same?” “Definitely not,” the man said firmly. “Your ear can hear about food but you really need to use your mouth to get it into you. That’s the only answer for hunger.” Hunger… That described too well the frustrating feeling Hunky had had for some time and which he knew his friends to have too. “That’s the answer?” he said, a little bewildered. “Sounds too simple to me… What about cookbook study and kitchen talks and so on?”

The man paused, then said, “Those are good, but if you’re not eating the food, what good is it to know about it? Your mouth is the way to eat food. We’ve found that by using our mouth all the time, we can stay filled up with food. It’s so satisfying…” At that point they were interrupted by a group at one table who had all stood up together and sung a short song with the words: “We’re so glad that we have found our mouth! Now we eat the food; we have found our mouth!” Everyone else voiced their agreement that they, too, were glad about having found their mouth as well. Then another person stood up waving what looked like a barbecued sparerib. “Watch!” he exclaimed loudly, and then did something with the sparerib that Hunky was not familiar with. “What’d he do?” Hunky whispered to the man. “He was just showing everyone how easy it is to eat food with your mouth,” the man said. “I don’t understand,” Hunky said. “How do you find your mouth, and how do you eat with it?” The man grinned. “I asked the same question once, but as soon as I used my mouth one time, I didn’t need to ask any more. I’ve been eating ever since. The same goes for you — once you use your mouth and eat the food even just a little, you’ll see.”

Just then another person who had been sitting at one of the tables came over toward Hunky and the man that he had been talking to. He introduced himself and invited Hunky to come sit with him at his table. Hunky still didn’t understand all this about his mouth and really eating food, but he went over sat down. On the table was a platter with many pieces of baked chicken. Hunky was immediately aware that the skin was a bit too dry, the thighs had not been cut away at the correct point, and the wings were folded together improperly. Hunky tried to mention this quietly to his new acquaintance, but he didn’t seem to be at all interested. Indeed, he replied, “That’s okay — the main point is that you eat. Here’s a drumstick.” Hunky was completely befuddled. He had never held a real drumstick in his hand, although he had seen paintings of them and had read about them. His host saw the look on his face and encouraged him to take a bite.

Hunky was very, very unsure of himself at this point, but figured that he couldn’t lose much, so he tried his best to do just what the others were doing. When he took his first bite, many things happened at once. Those at his table, realizing that that was Hunky’s first deliberate bite of food, practically exploded with joy. “I think he did it!” said one. “Hurray!” shouted another. “That was your mouth you used just then,” his friend explained. “You just ate some food.” Mouth…ate some food — those words now became more than words to Hunky — HE HAD FOUND HIS MOUTH!

The rest of that evening was more than he had ever imagined possible. If knowing about food was good, eating it was a thousand times better! He wanted to sample everything, and he even took some food home with him that night. He hoped he would never stop eating. And to think that just yesterday he hadn’t known about his mouth. “Wow,” he thought, “that hungry feeling is gone. This must be the secret, just like that man said. Wait till I tell my brother.”

The next day Hunky went to see Dory, his brother. He was eager to tell him of his new discovery and wanted Dory to discover his mouth, too. Hunky took a drumstick from the night before so he could show Dory how to eat. He explained in detail, beginning from the time that he had been reading his cookbook until he took his first bite of food, using his mouth. Then he produced the drumstick and said “Here, Dory, try it!” Dory was somewhat repulsed by the thought of eating food, and especially appalled to hear that Hunky really believed that his mouth was something distinct from his ear. He took the drumstick from Hunky in a condescending manner and said, “Well, it doesn’t look like a real drumstick to me. Let’s see…” With that he poked the drumstick into his ear. “Nope,” he said, “it doesn’t sound like a drumstick to me. Besides, the skin is too dry and it’s not cut right. Sorry, I can’t accept it.” “But Dory,” Hunky began. “Forget it,” Dory broke in, “I know enough about food to know something real when I see it.” With that Dory picked up his cookbook and went outside for his daily hour of recipe reading and memorization.

Hunky left for home, a bit discouraged by his brother’s reaction. As he was walking, he began to feel hungry, but he was thinking so hard about his brother that he didn’t give it much thought, but just took out a lamb chop he had saved from the night before and began to eat it. Halfway through, he realized what was happening, and got excited all over again. He really did have a mouth, and food could really be eaten! He’d never be discouraged again, for he knew it was so.

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To understand this parable, there is a simple key:

The people of the kingdom are the Christ-born family.

The food is simply Christ Himself, as nourishment indeed.

The cookbook is the Word of God, our inner man to feed.

The ear and mouth are not the same: ‘tis clear as it could be;

These are the mind and spirit, deep inside of you and me.

Our spirit, deep and hidden, may seem difficult to find;

But once we’ve touched the Lord there, we’ll be sure it’s not our mind!

The kitchens, cold and proper, are the “churches” of today;

But on the other side of town we’ve found another way.

We’ve left the old religion with its forms and doctrines dead,

And now by taking Christ as life, we eat the Lord instead.

Now if these words offend you, with your doctrines do not mix,

We urge you, friend, to read again the message of John 6.

The purpose of this parable is now made full, complete;

The point is plain enough to see, that Christ is meant to eat.

If Hunky is your present state, you smile to hear this story;

But if you find yourself irate, your name’s most likely Dory.

Yet e’en to Dory comes this cry; CHRIST IS REALITY!

And Christ today is good for food — just taste and you will see.

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