Indeterminacy 156

(ph: John Dominis)

I dug up some hog peanuts and boiled
them with butter, salt, and pepper for
Bob Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.
I was anxious to know what
Jasper Johns would think of them
because I knew he liked boiled peanuts.
I was curious to know
whether he would find a similarity
between boiled peanuts and hog
peanuts. Most people in the
North have no experience at all of
boiled peanuts. People
who’ve had hog peanuts speak
afterwards of the taste of chestnuts and
beans. Anyway,
Jasper Johns said they were very good
but that they didn’t taste
particularly like boiled peanuts.
Then he went down to South
Carolina for a few weeks in November.
When I saw him after
he got back, he said he’d had
boiled peanuts again and that they
tasted very much like hog peanuts.

- John Cage