It's Food John

The other day, I heard it.

I was delivering to my friends, just over the line in Elkton. As soon as I pulled up, I saw one of the little girls go running to the house. "It's Food John! Food John is here!"

I had heard of this. Once I was delivering flowers to the same family, and the girl asked where they came from. The mother said "John delivered them." The girl said "John?..." and looked over at their neighbor's house, where another John lives. The mother said, no, "John Detwiler, who brings us the vegetables."

"Oh!" said the girl. "Food John!"

I'll take it.

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This reminds me of a paragraph from my favorite living author, Anthony Esolen. He has a Substack called Word and Song, in which he writes, each week, about some word. Day one, he gives its history. Then on the succeeding days, a related 2) hymn, 3) poem, 4) movie, and 5) some longer reading. And on Saturday, his wife writes about a related popular song. It's a delight. I highly recommend it for light but seriously cultural stimulation.

Here's the first paragraph he wrote about this week's word, "BREAD."

It’s the Bread Man!” I’d call out to my mother when she asked which truck it was on our small dead-end street. It could have been the Coal Man with a delivery down the chute into the coal bin in our little basement. It could have been the Charles Chips man with potato chips that still tasted like potatoes, in the big brown and yellow cans. If it was the driver for Mr. Lucci the baker, the air from the street would have that wonderful warm smell of fresh bread, lingering for a while after the truck was gone. I’ve met people who don’t like cherries, or onions, or spinach, or turkey, or cold cuts (I don’t like cold cuts), or cheddar cheese. I have never met a single person who did not like bread, our Word of the Week.