Who says this is not a town of foodies? Poets of all ages answered WLRN and O,Miami's call and submitted 595 Edible Odes to the foods that make South Florida home.
From March 20 to April 21, we received poems of 40 words of less dedicated to everything from kumquats to anchovies. Forty finalists have been selected to read at Vizcaya Village on Wednesday, April 26 at a feature event from the O, Miami Poetry Festival. You can get your tickets here and check out some of the finalists here.
What did we learn along the way? That food is a big inspiration for Miami-Dade County residents, who submitted 463 odes. We also received 96 poems from Broward County, 24 from Palm Beach, five from Monroe and seven from cities outside South Florida (Hi friends in Brooklyn, NY; Newnan, GA; Oviedo, FL; Apollo Beach, Fl; Seffner, FL; St. Petersburg, Fl and Chihuahua, Mexico!)
South Florida might be the land of coladas and croquetas, but pizza still reigns (even if by a narrow margin). There are 21 Edible Odes to pizza, 20 to beans and 19 to coffee. Oranges and mangoes are tied for fourth place, with 17 submissions each. In a surprising development, plantains beat chocolate 11-8.
These odes also had villains. Anchovies, pickles, oatmeal and sushi were some of the least favorite foods of our poets.
Some Edible Odes were inspired by special places like Popeye's, Versailles, Publix and La Latina. And several of you just had to say: "Oh Bacon o bacon."
