Zimmer's Old-Fashioned Summer Day Mud Cakes Zimmer's Old-Fashioned Summer Day Mud Cakes

Zimmer's Old-Fashioned Summer Day Mud Cakes
By Paul Zimmer

I haven't cooked anything since I whipped up a mud pie when I was eight years old. the recipe was: mix well some good backyard dirt with a half cup of water from the garden hose and a good hawking of spittle. Shape into a patty and sprinkle well with sand from an anthill, dotting with a dead cricket. Put out in the sun for half the day and then feed it to your father when he comes homes home tired from work. If he won't eat if, look disappointed, as if you plan to rob banks when you grow up because of his neglect.

Recipe from John Keat's Porridge: Favorite Recipes of American Poets, Edited by Victoria McCabe. (1975). Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press.