Cooking isn’t just about food
Before anything else, ask yourself a simple question. What does cooking mean to you?
Will you always go back to those times when you made pancakes with grandpa? Maybe you find yourself thinking about Christmas and the smell of that delicious roast your mom makes every year. Or, was it that time you cooked for the community to show thanks?
Ironically, cooking isn’t just about food. It is much more than that. Cooking transcends its plain stovetop physicality, transforming into memories, human connections, traditions, and at worst, can also be an emotional crutch. Some of my most meaningful relationships were established over a shared love for cooking. For example, when I first met my “surrogate mother/sister-friend-mentor” Gina, it seemed like we were from two completely opposite worlds. Until we entered the kitchen — everything changed. It felt like we had always known each other. My loud and inappropriate ways combined with her love and wisdom would create a bond meant to last for years.
I still do it to this day; I cook or bake to feel a sense of accomplishment. Especially during these trying times. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Julia Child, and I’m not even close to being a culinary professional. In spite of that, cooking is one of the major defining factors of my life. I cannot recall a time when I wouldn’t have been busy doing something in the kitchen. Ah, the kitchen, the heart of (most) homes. It is where my mind and soul wanders to in my every hour of need or boredom.
When my mom got involved in politics it meant a great deal of change in the lives of my siblings and me. Having busy parents meant they did not have much time to cook for the family. My oldest brother gave a try at feeding our family for a while, but the mantle was eventually passed onto me. By the time I was in high school, I catered to most of our family’s food-related needs, did all of the grocery shopping and helped organize events and huge gatherings for my mom.
With cooking, I was able to contribute to my family’s well-being and ease the stress of my parents.
I remember dipping my fingers in wet sourdough at my grandmother’s house. I was only seven at the time. Five years before that I had already started washing dishes and “cooking” with my own easy-bake oven. Then as a third grader I would boast about making lasagnas and pies. I was not good at sports or involved in hobbies kids could be loudly proud of, but our family was known for our birthday parties and the glorious foods that came along with them. There was always a line of elementary schoolers waiting to get into our birthday parties just to eat the richest chocolate cake.
So many of our holidays and cultural celebrations are tied to preparing certain dishes and foods. Some of the old-school traditional ways even to this day have been passed down through oral tradition. It is virtually impossible to find a recipe online that shows you the original methods, measurements and techniques. That is when you need your babushka-wrapped 90-year old great-aunt telling you how your family has been making a dish for generations. I have made a point to preserve many of my family’s traditions. There is nothing more gratifying than perfecting a recipe by your dead great-grandmother and being told “it’s just like she made it”, or perhaps, even better. Not only is it my duty, but a great privilege to breathe life into my family’s and country’s traditions.
If I had to describe cooking in one word, it’d be love. We cook to care for and to sustain others and ourselves. To comfort friends and family, to bring joy, to unite generations. What better way is there to show how much you care? It is a time during which I become much more than just an individual. It is when everything seems just about right, even amidst all the chaos of a dirty kitchen. For some, cooking is a necessary evil of daily living, but to me it is a way of showing love. Sometimes, even for a talkative person like myself, words aren’t enough to express how I feel.
So no, it’s not even close to being about food. Cooking is all about love.
