Read the excerpt from "fish cheeks." on christmas eve i saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu. she was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshy prawns. the kitchen was littered with appalling mounds of raw food: a slimy rock cod with bulging fish eyes that pleaded not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil. tofu, which looked like stacked wedges of rubbery white sponges. a bowl soaking dried fungus back to life. a plate of squid, their backs crisscrossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires. what is the effect of the imagery in this passage? it makes the food seem like something that should not be eaten. it shows how hard the mother works to her family. it gives important information about chinese culture. it shows how complicated it is to cook chinese meals.