My Canterbury Tale by Joseph Dempsey

As we all know from our introduction to this unit, the Canterbury tales were tales told by English immigrants to pass the time on their journey to Canterbury. If I were one of those immigrants, this is the short story I would tell:

"As dinner approaches on Christmas Eve, my stomach was already doing barrel rolls. Although I had hardly eaten anything that day due to the fast, my stomach was still not craving this food. We sat down to say grace, and then I hesitantly dug in. The gooey, purple kidney beans were enough to drive anyone away from the traditional meal. Next up was the mushroom barley soup. We usually empty our bowls of this instantaneously (by shoveling it into my brother's bowl who gladly eats it). By this time I needed a break so I consumed the plainest thing I could find-the fried fish. After I managed to get that down, I moved on to the tolerable foods-the potatoes with sauerkraut, and the bobal'ky (bub-all-key, small bread balls covers in honey). These I devoured as if they were candy. Finally, the meal was finished and I got to relax and be excited for all the delicious foods for the next day. However, that joyous thought was instantly destroyed by the thought that I would have to do that all again next year."

 Even with that said, I DO actually look forward to this dinner known as Velija (vuh-lee-a). This tradition will be one of the greatest memories of my childhood and teen years. The suffering that my family and I (mainly my cousins) go through and the fun we have at the table while eating it is unforgettable.

Here are pictures of the 5 foods:

Bobal'ky:
 
Potatoes:



















Mushroom Barley Soup:
 
Fish:
Really any old fried fish
Beans:
Could not find a picture (trust me, they look disgusting)