Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America

Fiction | Anthology/Varied Collection | YA | Published in 2019

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“The Ingredients” by Jason ReynoldsChapter Summaries & Analyses

“The Ingredients” Summary

Four teenage boys—Jamal, Big Boy, Flaco, and Randy—regularly go to the Kosciuszko Pool in Brooklyn in the summer, then to one of their houses after to hangout. On this day, they head to Flaco’s after swimming.

On the way there, the boys watch the signs at each of the bodegas advertising different sandwiches, as they are starving after swimming. They each discuss the type of sandwich they want. Big Boy tells them how he wants to get beef and broccoli from a Chinese restaurant, add soy and duck sauce, and make it into a sandwich. Jamal talks about a hero with veggies like they see on the bodega signs, or a pastrami sandwich built on a challah roll. Randy wants a Polish sausage and sauerkraut, even though he can’t pronounce “sauerkraut.” When they make fun of Flaco for wanting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he revises it to “one of them veggie sandwiches [he] always be seeing these white people get” served on pumpernickel bread, with bacon on top (113).

When the boys arrive at Flaco’s, they again talk about the sandwiches they want, as Flaco goes into the kitchen to get food. He returns with cereal and milk, telling them “don’t worry” he’s “got sugar” (115).

“The Ingredients” Analysis

Through the symbolic representation of food, the text explores the dreams and desires of young boys of color living in the city. As they return home from playing in the pool, they notice all the advertisements for sandwiches around them and each dreams of the sandwich they wish to eat. As they discuss these types of sandwiches and return to one of the boys’ homes, the text implies that they will either purchase one or construct one when they get home. However, as Flaco returns from the kitchen, all he has is cereal. This ironic ending conveys the theme of Living Between Two Worlds. On the one hand, the boys dream of all of the types of sandwiches they wish to eat, in particular sandwiches that come from different cultures—with one wishing to construct one from Chinese food, another using Polish sausage and sauerkraut, and a third a veggie sandwich he “always be seeing these white people get” (113). However, with one foot in the world of these different cultures and foods, the reality is that they are poor children of color and must settle for the titular “ingredients” they have at their disposal: cereal, milk, and sugar. Their thoughts of other food options and dreams of attaining these sandwiches represent their desire to one day achieve more with their lives.