as old as it is new

Vanilla is black….

Native to Mexico and commonly produced in Tahiti and Madagascar it was originally called tlilxóchitl by the Aztec peoples, which means BLACK Flower.

The Word Vanilla derives (not surprisingly) from the Latin word for vagina. To the Romans, vagina meant sheath or scabbard (the place you put a knife y’all). The Spanish adopted the word as vaina, which developed a diminutive form, vainilla, meaning “little sheath”. The Spanish made this diminutive the name of the plant because its pods resemble sheaths. ....way too many innuendo's.

This is a story about understanding soil or light skinned original women and thier journey back to themselves… This is emphatically not a story about white women who desire to be original...let’s set the record str8 once and for all.… Vanilla is BLACK.

Everyone has a story I know… for those us of immigrant sisters who are light skinned indigenous peoples we have one too… usually involved a struggle with traditions old and new and trying to find self while walking the fine line between the ancient and so-called modernity… a lot of experimentation within and without cultures and at some point rebellion in some form or fashion from old tradition and then the same rebellion from modernity….

My Iranian ass is most def displaced…. For a long time just had to tuck the thought away that I was born in the wrong class of people (working class that is) and the wrong culture (Irooni). What’s interesting is that many so-called Persians who come to this country came as refugees… but they were royalist supporters of the Shah or children of. These families generally have OLD money, and brought it with them, mostly to LA to implant themselves (and get implants) creating what they now call Tehrangales (Tehran + Los Angeles = Tehrangales)

That’s not how I got here. My lineage is working class. Romeo and Juliet ish brought my parents together and entrepreneurial illegal pharmaceuticals… just months before the revolution. Addiction, Prison, Food stamps, government cheese, canned meat, ghetto public schools, second hand everything and I forgot how to speak Farsi by the time I was 7, even tho it was my first language.

Vanilla is sooo black……

It wasn’t called the black flower for its petals which are pale yellow (like some of us) it was instead highly sought after for its pods which become black after they are properly cultivated…

I know many many immigrant sisters who take the synthetic vanilla road… because they can “pass” attempt to assimilate into popular white culture, dying hair blond, getting blue contacts, and starving themselves to fit into the parameters of western European modernity… the result of this is a lifelong façade that ends in exotic bitter betrayal of self… synthetic vanilla is derived from ethanol… nothing natural about it… and is made to seem other than itself, is cheaper to acquire and the quality is far inferior to the original, which is true of all things extracted from original and all things synthetic that emulate the original.

I did it too in my own rebellious way… well I didn’t come up in the suburbs and when I was comin up punk rock kids didn’t live in the suburbs either (and please don’t get punk rock confused with new wave)… so many of them did however grow up to be stockbrokers and stay at home moms who drive Volvos and take their kids to drama class at the age of 3? (maybe that’s how working class white kids rebel against their circumstances) I was an oddball immigrant, who didn’t have a home in my own country (because it became the Islamic republic of blah blah blah) and didn’t have one here either (because I represent the Islamic republic of blah blah blah…apparently)…and so I felt more at home with the subculture deviants and criminals (who are always more honest about themselves than anyone else)…Punk rock was optimistic depression… social anarchy and socialist theory were such beautiful daydreams….well it ended up being the same exotic bitterness cept now… I know Vanilla is Black, and that pretty much saved my life.

Vanilla is BLACK and let’s not get this confused with African, which is also black yet that’s not what I’m buildin on today.…

You may get it… you may not… you can ask me to clarify if you need me to… I will explain to the best of my abilities… just know this…

Vanilla is Ancient… black, sweet, and essential to after dinner treats….

Vanillicado Parfait –

3 Avocados
3 second pour of Raw Agave Nectar
1.5 second pour organic black vanilla

Puree

(I know its green… but Avocado’s are really Black anyway so don’t sweat it)

Layers of Pecans or Almonds (or both)
Layer of fruit (I do strawberries, bananas and blueberries)

It’s good and it HEALS

Originally and medicinally Vanilla is known as an aphrodisiac, not surprising as many sweet smelling plants are. In the 16th century a study was done in Germany with Vanilla used as a cure for impotence. All smiling 362 participants agreed. Of course our South American family already knew this to be true and told Cortez before he took it with him.

I know an elder brother who uses pure Vanilla extract in his coffee and I swear his body odor smells of Vanilla…hmmmmm.

Some more recent studies show that Vanillan, the main constituent in Vanilla, has been found to inhibit the migration and invasion of cancer cells. This means it can stop cancer from spreading and can act as a defense from cells mutating into cancerous ones. This is very recent research and I’m not presenting it as a cure yet research is being done.

While I’m not at all an advocate of extracting a single constituent from what was a whole plant and calling it medicine, or taking a sister out of her native land and calling her American, I do advocate research of whole plants and whole people…. Eat vanilla, it’s BLACK and it’s good for you.

Peace
FaaTma Behesht Earth