chicago street studio project – sugar chicken and the norwegian invasion – stuart – chicago
- sugar chicken and the norwegian invasion – by stuart – chicago
glen and oystein were two norwegian exchange students my mother invited to our home in mississippi in 1982 to mutually expand our cultural horizons. they came on a sunday.
i approached their arrival with puppy inquisitiveness tempered with an eleven year old military brat’s patriotic distrust. they had come to steal satellite imagery from our nearby air force base. but a simple twist on fried chicken would dispel that fear right quickly.
you see, food was really at the core of glen and oystein’s mission, not espionage. sure, they tried to hide it by limiting themselves to third helpings during most meals, but they were helpless against southern food. they ate everything. squash became the holiest of vegetables. yams? god’s tuber. and peanut butter with chocolate? well, norway’s finest had a new favorite indulgence. “pens butty chockylate goot!” that had to be a secret code. but my mother would just listen to glen and oystein blabber on and on, mouths afull. forget manners, they were norwegian. and happy. and even though she had no idea what they were saying, she’d laugh ‘til tears came. for my sister and brothers and i, it was like playing dodge ball against two seal pups who used bits of pre-chewed food as ammo. but we figured as long as we kept them fed, agents g & o couldn’t perform their duties. mom almost screwed it up.
you see mom, jesus on a popsicle stick bless her heart, was rearing four kids. at once. this, coupled with the happy distraction of barking glen and oystein, helped her mistake the sugar and salt containers for one another when making their last southern supper. operation sugar chicken happened on a sunday.
when we took our first bite of mom’s dyslexian dish, you’d have thought she deep fried yankees and topped them with marinara. the native kids panicked. our plan would be derailed and norway’s agents du jour would pull out pistols and demand our files. foolish americans. when glen and oystein took their first bites, sunshine, rainbows and unicorns danced in the air. they loved sugar chicken! and in seven minutes, there would be no more on the defenseless plate. nor would there be any national security breaches.
the next morning we packed up the boys and headed to the airport, each of us a more well rounded person than before, some of us, literally.
the end.
and here’s a bit of stuart’s portraits for the chicago street studio project
