A Family United by Food (2)

Dinner has always had an importance in my life, growing up in a household where everybody seemed to branch out and go on their own each day; dinner was the much anticipated family gathering that brought us all together. With an older brother 7 years my elder and a younger brother 11 years younger, there wasn’t much interaction between the three of us throughout the day. Each night through a glorious feast of tender juicy medium rare steak, fresh delicious seared tuna, sizzling steak and chickens fajitas, or a traditional meal of corn beef and cabbage, my brothers and I were able to sit down and share our daily events; My older brother’s chemical research progress, my first day of high school, and my little brothers exhilarating day at the sand box. Despite the vast age differences and daily task each day I could sit down with my family and enjoy my mom’s glorious meal! It was My mom’s planning and culinary perfection that brought my brothers and me to the dinner table each night. As I later came to realize, my mother would often plan her meals around the person that was least likely to show up for dinner that night. If my brother had a lab session later in the evening she would make his favorite meal for dinner that night and let him know, with the promise that we would wait for him. It was often in this way that my brothers and I were kept from picking up fast food or stopping somewhere convenient if we had any chance of getting home at a decent hour. After working or going to school all day, having to wait an extra 30-45 minutes fighting through Atlanta traffic with a McDonalds offering instant hunger gratification every ten feet, often seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. But then my brother or I would get home and realize that the wait was well worth the food and conversation that would have been missed otherwise.
The consumption of dinner was not the only way my brothers and I were socialize around food, often times when my brother and I were home early or didn’t have anything to do that afternoon; we would assist my mother in the kitchen. She would assign us different task or parts of the meal and we would add are own touch or preference to the dish assigned. While working on are assigned task, I would have the opportunity to exchange my thoughts and ideas on current events, food dishes, and ask my all-knowing elder brother daily advice. My mother’s kitchen became a melting pot of food, culinary suggestions, and general small talk as we slowly grew closer and more connected to each other’s lives.
Quickly my brother and I developed our own specialty of cooking that would designate us as the family specialist or chef in that cuisine. My brother was adept at appetizers and side dishes, but was most highly regarded as the family weekend breakfast chef. A job which he was given for his expertise with any dish in which eggs were the main ingredient; omelets, scrambled eggs, eggs benedict, etc. My brother’s exquisite breakfast’ not only allowed him to show off his culinary expertise and standing in the family , but also offered another meal in which we could further increase our family bonding before the day picked up and we would scatter about heading out to our separate tasks and jobs for the day, until the light of day would end and we would meet back once again to devour on the life source that would ultimately bring us closer together.

source:http://pesto.art.pl/kuchnia/dania/pfane/Eggs_Benedict.jpg

I also found my place in the kitchen in another area outside of the main dishes of dinner, dessert. My designation as the family dessert chef began, when my mother presented me with a William Sonoma children’s cook book when I was 11. Despite containing the word children and being laid out quite simply and having many pictures, the recipes were rather complicated for a beginning cook like myself, who had to stand on a stool to reach most of the ingredients. Yet I went at each of the recipes, mainly as an experimental form of lunch for myself. Needless to say, more times than not lunch time would end and I would have nothing edible to eat but a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I made as backup. After months of preparing the lunch and entrée foods with little success, I ventured toward the section of the book that had intrigued my attention the most, but had not attempted any recipes from, the dessert section. Flipping through this wondrous array of sweets, my eyes quickly fell on a recipe that would have immediately caught Matt Mcallester’s eyes too, strawberry ice cream. Immediately, I grabbed the brand new ice cream maker my mother had received for Christmas that year, a pint of strawberries, heavy whipping cream, and the other little necessities needed for this intriguing frozen culinary delight and began the delicate process described in the book. When the frozen delight was finally completed, it was one of the best ice creams my family and I had ever tasted, and it was from there on, I became the family dessert chef. Each day after looking through various dessert books I would find a sweet or confection that everyone in the family could enjoy. My new creation would always be the perfect finishing dish to our meal to leave us all with a sweeter sense of family.

Source: http://www.americanlife-traditions.com/issues/16/images/strawberry-ice-cream.jpg

Food invoked my brothers and I to bond a little more each and every day we sat down to enjoy the union of life and family that is food. Dinner as a child helped establish my deeper connection with food and family that has influenced me throughout my life, whether it is personally preparing food in ways I learned from my mother, or just recognizing that getting together for a meal is not just meant to satisfy hunger but is more importantly a social meeting place where friends, family, coworkers are more open to express their personal beliefs and feelings.