What do I like about food? It’s all about a chicken from a poor yard
As a cook I’m used to hear other peoples questions about why I quiet Law School to become a professional cook. Everybody asks me and I always give evasive answers. I started to think about this ‘cause its my life, it’s what I’m doing today, it’s what I’m gonna do tomorrow and the next day after.
When I was a kid, my father and his “gang” used to get together and play domino, drink beers or whiskey and eat some grill food at a yard called “Txitxirikaua”. My old brother used to join but he never played, he went with his friends to prepare the food and drink some free beers. That lasted till midnight and the only reason I could never get bored was ‘cause I had a pretty weird imagination and I could play with almost everything around me. My brother used to cook beef and in some random cases, chicken. I loved when he cooked chicken, it was so great and juicy, he marinate them on vinegar with vegetable oil and salt&pepper which works so great together, the best part of that chicken was the smell, and he used to give me the wings ‘cause the flavor was so fucking great in them that you could eat them till death. He was a great cook, but he was even a greater friend.
Almost twelve years later I was cooking for some friends and I didn’t have an idea of what could I cook. I opened a book of traditional food of my country and any single idea came out, “fuck it” I said and start to marinate a chicken with almost everything that pass trought my mind in that moment. Turned on the stove and put a grill over it, cook the chicken till white-juicy and eat it down to the bones. I made it. I made the chicken with exactly the same flavor that my brother used to do it and I told it to my girlfriend and friends, I was so happy in that moment.
I always ask my self what kind of restaurant do I want have? A fancy one or a casual one? When you choose a fancy one you start to make questiones like: Should we have real silverware? Is it there enough luxury ingredients in the menu? Or, should the waiters wear suits?. Does the food will be improved by a bow tie? In a little town of Venezuela I ate the chicken of my life with my bare hands! Are you telling me that a silver fork would have made it even more delicious? When you start to forget things like that your inner flame starts to burn out. Dont worry about what people gonna expect from you, focus in what you expect of yourselves. Your memories no matter how poor they’re are valuable enough to shape the present.
What do I like about food? I can’t answer that question so simply. Food is everything. It’s a big topic conversation no matter if you are in a wedding or a funeral. Its a transformation of our environment, bite to bite we are putting a piece of the world in our bodies. Food becomes you. With food you can repair yourself. But the reason ‘cause I became in love with cooking belive it or not, have nothing to do with those twelve hours shifts or the pain in the back, no, no no no; I fell in love with flavours and what delicious it is. If you allow it can do it to you. It could be a time machine filling you with memories. Yeah, the critical voice says “sure, my body doesn’t need it to stay alive!” But my mind does! It’s the extra icing on top of an ice cream! It is what makes life fun to live. To me, celebrate a well cook meal no matter if it’s a twenty course meal with some fucking weird names or a perfectly cook chicken in a poor yard in Venezuela, that it’s what makes the difference between real living and body maintenance.
Gracias,
The Mad Chef