My first memories of cooking have me sitting at the kitchen counter on a tall stool next to my mother. Although I can’t remember the very first thing I ever made, I do remember making chocolate chip cookies and apple brownies. I remember the first cookbook I owned; a big cardboard klutz book with a huge spiral binding. I made tacos and fried chicken out of that book when I was in elementary school. Fast forward twenty years, and some of my favorite times still have me at the kitchen counter (standing now) cooking next to my mother, although now I enjoy the process on my own as well.
I was an energetic, fidgety kid. I was also extraordinarily accident prone. I would come in from spending hours outside in rural upstate New York, and be scratched up and smiling, ready to do it all again the next day. That is why I cannot figure out why my mother decided it would be a good idea to let me use knives. She also let me use the old gas stove, and the oven underneath. I still cannot fathom that and I commend her on handling all of the “learning experiences” I had when I was learning about food, like the time I decided I wanted to try making lemonade with milk, and drank a full glass of sour milk much to my stomach’s dismay. There was also the time that I almost set the kitchen on fire when I had a pot of rice set on a temperature too high.
In addition to being energetic and accident prone, I was also exceedingly curious. I was, and still am fascinated by science. I feel like a mad scientist when I’m cooking. Take yeast for instance. You mix yeast with sugar and warm water, and something magical happens. The little yeasty creatures start having a sugary smorgasbord and before you know it your bread has risen! Hallelujah! Or if you prefer other leaveners, baking soda works as a leavener if there is something acidic in your batter, but if you don’t have the acid, baking powder is more complete. In the kitchen I can make bread rise and make chemical reactions happen but I’m still at the mercy of nature. If the water is too hot when you activate the yeast, you kill the yeast. Even while I’m cooking in a frenzy of enthusiasm I need to exercise a certain amount of respect, and that is humbling.
And then there’s the food. In today’s society, so much of our eating culture is pre-packed or fast food. Unidentifiable masses fortified with ingredients impossible to pronounce. But I learned to cook, and therefore I learned how to eat. How to really eat. I learned how to eat vegetables of every color, shape, and size. I learned how to make beautiful, delicious food on a nearly empty wallet. I pay attention to texture and taste and smell, and I’ll tell you what: one meal from hodgepodge ingredients in my nearly empty cabinet can knock the socks of McDonalds any day. Give me flavor. Give me real food.
Give me the people I love. of all these reasons, this is the biggest reason why I cook. When I learned to cook, I learned from my mother. She taught me her mother’s recipes. She taught me the secret marinade for three-bean salad, my grandmother’s barbeque sauce recipe, and my great-grandmother’s depression-era spice cake. Through these recipes I learned that I was connected to amazing, headstrong, spicy women. These women worked for themselves, raised families, and still had time to share a meal with their loved ones. When I cook I feel like I am tapping into a tradition greater than myself.
When you cook, you use all five senses. You see the progress of a recipe, you hear the crack and sizzle of the frying pan. You feel dough in your hands. You smell fragrant herbs and garlic. You taste as you go; a little more salt, a little more sweet. You give all of yourself. In this time of war and economic hardship, what better way to show love than by giving your family or friends something you created with all five senses?
That is why I cook. I don’t cook because it’s a woman’s job. I am not very demure, and sometimes I’m not very patient. I am busy. I am young. I like to go out, and I have a demanding job. However, like my mother showed me at the kitchen counter, food is an important part of life, but so is preparing it. So as long as I live and love, I will also cook.