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gungadin09 -> RE: Why we cook... (5/14/2011 12:22:58 PM)
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i've always been fascinated by food. When i was a kid i used to keep a journal of everything i ate. i always looked at the label to find out what food was made of, and try to imagine how they made it. We didn't have regular meals at home. My mom would buy muffins, peanut butter, and cereal in bulk, and that's pretty much all we ate. My parents had odd ideas about food, i think they thought it was sinful or something. Both my parents took pride in *not* eating. Growing up, we sometimes didn't have enough to eat. As a result, i guess i developed a preoccupation with food.
My first jobs were in fast food, working the register. i was shy and i hated how they always put girls on the register and guys in the kitchen. Finally, i found a job that trained me in the kitchen and i loved it. At that point food was an escape from doing work that i hated to doing work that i loved and was interested in. It represented work that i was good at. It suprised me to be good at something besides school. Food also represented a departure from the world of my parents, a world that i was particularly anxious to get away from at that point in my life.
When i started cooking from scratch, i realised that food is both an organic process and an art. I realised what makes food good or bad. When i started working for really good chefs, i found that food is a pursuit of perfection that's almost religious. Food is a way to work, and a way to live life.
But the more i see the flaws in the restaurant industry, the more i go back to the beginning, and start to see food through my parents eyes, as a frivilous waste of money and time, a distraction from what's important in life.
pam
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