5 Min read

Five Points Neighborhood, West Buffalo

Dante’s Inferno and the Nine Circles of Hell*

Foodie special

Toolbox: texture in writing

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I am not young enough to know everything.

Oscar Wilde

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Morning Scene

Locals gathered at the corner. An older lady, friends, a couple with little ones. Eight, then a dozen people. The doors of the shop were closed but racks towered high in the kitchen. And, the name on the door was Butter Block.*

Seated at an all-day coffee bar across the street, I had just picked up my order. The eggs were cooked and folded neatly with prosciutto and sharp cheddar on a crispy-on-the-outside and warm-and-light-on-the-inside bun, a mix between a Portuguese roll and a English muffin. The reviews didn’t lie. This was “one of the best breakfast sandwiches I’ve ever had.”

I am not young enough to know everything. Though maybe I once did, when I was 24 or 14, somewhere in there. But I know this much.

A good bakery has locals lining up before opening time.

“Hey! I saw that place when I was checking bakeries and cafes,” I said, then elbowed my husband and pointed to the line. I felt a bit oinky. Here I was with this yumminess which I couldn’t get enough of, taking in small bites and savoring them.

Yet, you have to go when you’re a foodie. Put your phone in your pocket and join the line. Look at the person next to you. Smile. Say, “Hi, what’s good?” Go ahead–make human contact. And like that, WHAM! I’m out of the cafe.

I didn’t have time for small talk. These folks were on a mission and when the door opened, I was in a line that doubled back against itself in the small store front. A quiet reverence fell over those waiting, listening to the action at the counter. Behind the case five women worked in tandem. Bakers shuffled in with trays to fill the emptying case. Starting at the right with a welcome, the women took orders, chatted about the confections, prepped the box or bag, filling the requests as customers moved left, closing out with the cashier.

Kouign amann–a caramelized buttery pastry pronounced queen ah-MAHN, pop tarts from wild berry to lemon cream, eclairs, a maple bacon twist, puffy croissants, and chocolate bouchons were in stacks and neat rows. We filled a large box.

The older lady who had been waiting outside was seated by the window with two others. She wore loose jammy pants, her hair a puff of gray, like she had just gotten out of bed. Small in size with Asian features, she held the large pastry in a napkin, like a jewel, in both hands, eyeing it as she took a bite. She didn’t seem present in the way the rest of us were.

The expression on her face was not hunger. Not anticipation. It was a kind of rapture.

I slipped several dinner napkins from the folded stack, noticing the floral relief at the corner. The disposable wooden knives had serrated edges and the pastry box was stamped with butter block in lowercase cursive.

My husband ate a croissant. “It was crispy outside; warm and buttery,” he said. I would bring the box to my daughter and her volleyball team, because she would turn 21 the next day.

“Is that kouign-amann?” Julia asked, peering into the open box. Julia liked to bake for the team to celebrate player birthdays. Stepping onto the bus, she thanked us and said that was her favorite pastry, the kouign-amann, her eyes wide as she savored it.

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Foodie Confession

Gluttony may be the third circle of hell, worse than purgatory (first circle) and lust (second circle)?! You wonder as I do why gluttony is third. Because that’s how Dante wrote it, if I had to guess.

The confession I’ve made to myself, and to you, is that I wasn’t happy to be in a place and eating the very best of the best. I had to see what all the hullabaloo was about next door, to follow the pack.

Which led me where exactly? NOT, surprisingly, to devouring lots of pastries, but as a ticket to the scene. To join the spectacle, to share the loot with my daughter and her team after a long tournament and the team’s loss, later that afternoon.

I liked being in the line and asking the women about the creations, picking them out and collecting them. It was enough to have them stored in that brown box. It was better to give them away. It was best to glimpse the lady in the corner, to witness one woman’s simple delight.

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FOOTNOTES

*TEXTURE in writing and Chuck Palahnuik. Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different. (Grand Central Publishing, 2021). Funny and easy read on how to improve your writing. The chapter on Textures encourages writers to vary description with instruction and exclamation, and change points of view, as in opening paragraphs above.

• First person then second person: Here I was with this yumminess…. YOU have to go when you’re a foodie. Exclamation: Then WHAM! I’m out of there.
• I like the introspection of creative nonfiction which is what I write in THL, as in the paragraphs of the confession.
• Chuck likes making the impact on the page, common to fast-paced fiction. Reminds me of Tom Wolfe with the glitter and glam in his writing.
• Also reminds me of my mentor Pinckney Benedict who said, SEX AND VIOLENCE on every page! And there are hints in this THL: the appetite as it craves for more is sensual (of the senses) and the reference to Dante to hell and death, the violent images from the Inferno or Divine Comedy. The wayward path I take to gluttony, an appetite for more and for coveting beyond what I already have.

*Kouign-amann, pronounced as queen a-MAHN, was crunchy sweet with folded corners in layers. The two French words mean Butter Cake. With origins in Brittany, it is touted as the fattiest pastry in Europe.

*In Five Points Buffalo, Butter Block is a women-owned French patisserie located at the intersection of five streets in the west side. You can’t go wrong, order whatever is in the case or emptying out the fastest. Or see what the senior in the corner is eating.

*The Remedy House is the all day coffee bar across from Butter Block with the best breakfast sandwich in the city, possibly the state. The shop’s tagline includes a group of three and a list!

Find your remedy.
Remedy House is an all-day coffee bar in Buffalo’s Five Points neighborhood offering an extensive menu of coffee, food, and beverages for every mood, hour, budget, condition, affliction, affection, and need.

HEAVENS! the joy is more than for tastebuds! Group of three: coffee, food, and beverages….. List: mood, hour, budget, condition, affliction, affection, and need. What’s not to love? The rhythm, the parallelism, and the final word. NEED. Perfect for seeking a cure. Remedy House is located in an old triangular, flat-iron building with soaring yellow awnings on two sides, cafe tables and chairs nestled beneath.

* Prompt for Perplexity AI: Please list Dante’s 9 circles of hell. AI Summary below:

Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, part of his epic poem The Divine Comedy, describes a structured vision of Hell divided into nine distinct circles, each representing different sins and their corresponding punishments. Here is a summary of the nine circles:

First Circle: Limbo

This circle is for virtuous non-Christians and unbaptized souls, such as ancient philosophers and poets. They experience no physical torment but live in a state of longing for God.

Second Circle: Lust

Souls who succumbed to lust are punished by being swept endlessly by violent winds, symbolizing their lack of control over their desires.

Third Circle: Gluttony

Gluttons are condemned to lie in a foul slush produced by incessant rain, overseen by the three-headed dog Cerberus. Their punishment reflects their overindulgence in earthly pleasures.

Fourth Circle: Greed

This circle houses the avaricious and the prodigal, who push heavy weights against each other in a futile struggle, representing their conflicting attitudes towards wealth.

Fifth Circle: Anger

The wrathful fight each other on the surface of the River Styx, while the sullen are submerged beneath it, choking on mud. This circle illustrates the destructive nature of uncontrolled anger.

Sixth Circle: Heresy

Heresy is punished here with souls entombed in flaming graves, reflecting their rejection of divine truths during their lives.

Seventh Circle: Violence

Divided into three rings, this circle punishes those guilty of violence against others (in a river of boiling blood), themselves (as transformed trees), and God/nature (in a desert of burning sand).

Eighth Circle: Fraud

This circle contains ten ditches (bolgias) for different types of fraudsters, each facing unique punishments that reflect their deceitful actions during life.

Ninth Circle: Treachery

The innermost circle is reserved for traitors, who are trapped in ice. It is divided into four rounds based on the severity of betrayal, with historical figures like Judas Iscariot suffering at the deepest level.

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