The depth of kitchens

What is it that keeps bringing me back to food? Of course I love the tastes. I love the opportunity it gives us to create. But there is something so much deeper. Food brings people together. It is marriages, it is births and deaths. It is healing, and not only physically, but socially. In lands where people are polarized due to global labels and perceived imbalances, food brings love unifying those who are separated by their labels.

Estrangement and alienation fall away like autumn leaves when time is taken to be closer to someone that we do not understand. Food is the finest way to bridge the gaps and close the discrepancy. Mother’s all over the world call a truce, everyone laying down their weapons of ignorance to show respect and to finally step into the light of finding we have more in common with each other than we do not.

The food placed before me may show me the story of your wars, your famines, your exploration of the seas of the world, your sadness, your joy, your unions, and losses. It can be such an intimate thing, and when it is, there is no option but to feel and respect and to learn.

When we leave franchise food by the wayside and settle in at the thousands of tables that tells the personal tales of mothers and grandmothers staking their claim on the world by way of an abstract flanking approach because the world was too small minded to understand their beautiful individuality and mentorship, our existence transforms from 2 dimensions to 3.

Fine dining restaurants feature a dish pioneered by a family on the edge of starvation, and of refugees creating what they can mixing their heritage and what a land foreign can give them. Take the walk, let no flashy billboards prevent you from making friends, following the food, tasting the heart and soul of those who gladly give that experience to those who listen to the language that is the food.

Comments

As You Lie There

I am sick and tired of inaction. I am calling myself out. I have a well-tested talent for creating delicious food, and I stop short of the starting line. How many years will I allow this to slide by? I really cannot do it anymore. So I have questions, observations, and projections. I say, no more! Playing it safe does not pay the bills and is not fair to my desire to make something of this. Yeah, there are hoops to jump through. Anything worthwhile is like that. Insurance and permits, fees, and, of course, the biggest of them all, food safety. Yes, I am willing to do everything. The Boys of Dungeon Lane was released yesterday. It is Paul McCartney's 27th album release since the Beatles ended. This man has played the notes of my soul every decade of my life. Just like learning from a family of 8 hiking the Appalachian Trail, or a Mom with 15 bio kids doing the same, Paul's determination, knowing that he still has more to do, is incredibly inspiring. I am by no mea...

It's Where You Shine

A little bit of salt takes something unseen and makes it an experience. The complexities of contemporary cooking lie in the mentality of recipes, the absence of recipes, cookware, kitchen appliances, tools, and attitude. It is a little about any of the above and more about the need. Need has brought the spice to life in the last thousand years. Once those crusaders of the sea and land got a taste of these things, they risked everything to taste once again. But even more so, the real creativity came from people having very few ingredients. Short growing seasons, famine, wars, and scarcity of ingredients forced people to make what was known as poor people's food. From these, culinarily significant dishes were born. Nothing has taken food to a higher level than the so-called "lower decks." Wouldn't it be fun to take a journey, trying and making these foods that have shaped the culinary world? Braising of tough meats, brining of poultry that would otherwise present dry...

Grenade and Diaper Delivery Service

I am not a career restaurateur, food service professional, or even one who has worked in the industry in a supporting role. I worked at Marie's Luncheonette in my mid-teens and at Colonial Pizza. Both were owned by second and first-generation Italian Americans, respectively. Their food culture was precise, impressive, and intense. I learned a great deal about my work ethic from these extraordinary men, and I am grateful for the experience. I find myself constantly heaping heavy loads and huge demands on myself to produce. Most of the time, I am very pleased with the end result. Once in a while, I fall short, although no one seems to notice. That is because the destination I had in mind does not match the destination achieved. I think the reason I get a pass on that from my diners is that they still cannot get what I made elsewhere, and they don't die, so it is still like going on vacation and experiencing something different. 24 years ago, I decided that I could cook anythi...

Fight 4 Taste

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