POPCORN

Blog post and photograph by Peter Hemenway

While traveling in the town of Kalabahi, Alor I saw a man in the market area with what I thought initially was some kind of coffee roaster.

The gas tank was fitted with a nozzle welded onto the tank that allowed a hand pump to pressurize the tank.

The flame was put under the contraption while the drum was turned.

After it was sufficiently heated, the man then went across the road and bought some corn.

The corn was put into the heated drum container.

The lid was closed

A young boy also had been watching the cooking of the popcorn and I was wondering why he had been holding his was closed with his hands for the last five minutes. I thought maybe he was tired of the noisy town.

About five more minutes passed ad then it was time to open the cooker.

It was then I learnt why they call it popcorn.

Thee was a load bang- similar to the noise from a firecracker as the lid was opened.

I jumped!

The popcorn was put into a sack.

And everyone was happy!