Growing Up With Food

My love of cooking started with an apparent love of eating. From an early age, all I’ve wanted to do was eat and eat and try new foods. I was never the type to shy away from ‘green this’ or ‘spicy that’, and that is what sparked my interest in cooking. Some of my earliest food memories were frogs legs and sweetbreads – two things that are terrifyingly disgusting to think about, yet incredibly delicious to eat.

I don’t think my family thought that they were going to have an aspiring chef on their hands when I first came about, but as time went on, I showed more and more interest in food and how it was made. I always say that I come from a family with a lack of a cooking sensibility. By that, I always mean that no one can cook a thing. However, I don’t think I give my lovely mother enough credit, because she did raise two foodies. My oldest brother on the other hand, is not one. What I do mean by that statement is that my mom never experimented a whole lot with food and she really didn’t enjoy it and that’s where we differ. I remember going into the kitchen from an early age and insisting that I help with dinner and then planting myself in front of the TV watching the Food Netwok nonstop. Then, I would write countless sticky notes with scribbles of ingredients and directions and go into the kitchen the next day and attempt to make what I saw.

Food for me was a way to express myself creatively and was a way to really grow and learn. As cheesy as that sounds, I promise it’s true. So, when I see kids who are the same age as I was when I started cooking showing an interest in food, I can’t help but get a bit emotional, as food is such a lovely way to express yourself and your talents and truly is a fun way to spend time. I hope more kids can see that. I certainly didn’t start cooking gourmet food – I remember some of the first things I would make consisted of tons of whipped cream and Reese’s peanut butter cups. I may have moved on from that, but I believe that I will only improve with time and as I get older, so will my food, so that is why I stress the importance of involving kids and teens in food from the start!

My apologies for dwelling on me and my lifelong food story for a post, but I just want to stress the importance of getting in the kitchen!

Get cooking, people!!

(Image via Shutterstock)