Food Fabulous Food

Food is more than just a part of life. Dinner is a time to gather around the table to spend time with family and to indulge over the food one just prepared. Cooking is just one way to enjoy food in one’s life. I associate food with my family: the way we gather around the table, share cooking secrets, and give food to others. Food’s significance in my life appears in different cultural, social, familial, and geographical ways.  

Meals are times to spend with family and discuss what went on during the day. The American culture has changed over time from gathering around the dinner table to grabbing food on the go or eating in front of the television. These shifts are seen from both sides of my family. My mother grew up in a very traditional household where dinner was served at a specific time each night and all were in attendance. My father, on the other hand, rarely had organized meals with his family during his teenage years. Between sports and other activities my grandmother was either in the kitchen or driving around my dad’s four siblings. I grew up the way my mother grew up: gathering around the dinner table and discussing how our day was at school. We juggled around schedules with my sister and I both in activities but always managed to share dinnertime together.  This is extremely important to me. Food is a means for my family to get together and share the important details about how our day was. Whether it is laughter, stories, or just enjoying the food prepared in front of us, family meals are cherished when we are all together.

Sharing dinner together is just one of the traditions that I associate with food. Many of these traditions are surrounded by the holidays. Every Christmas Eve my family eats dinner overlooking the mountains at Keystone Lake. Our traditional meal is honey-baked ham, ready-to-go mashed potatoes, and vegetables; the altitude in the mountains makes cooking very difficult—hence, instant mashed potatoes—but without flaw, we always delight in the same meal. Before we head up to the mountains we make Rice Chex, Wheat Chex, Corn Chex mix (a family favorite); this helps prepare us for the sixteen-hour car drive from our house to the mountains. Even though these traditions are surrounded by food, the important things are the memories made and time spent together as a family.

My mother started sharing her baking secrets with me when I was very little. The first experience I remember is spreading flour all over the floor and myself while making homemade pizzas and baking chocolate-chip cookies. My family is famous for our banana chocolate chip bread and hot chocolate mix; mainly my friends just remember that we are the family with Tupperware containers solely for Nestle chocolate chips (normal and mini sized!). The love for chocolate started with my grandfather and has been passed on since. When my mother and sister went overseas to Europe they brought back real Swiss chocolate that melted in your mouth. This love for chocolate will not end with my sister and I but will be passed on through generations.  

Anything baked with chocolate makes the perfect present. One year for Mother’s Day I saw a hunk of dark chocolate and immediately bought it for my mother; this chocolate was not used to take a bite off of but more to bake with. The thought of giving her something to make her laugh and enjoy was the most important. Our chocolate recipes are not just for my family to enjoy, but to share with friends. I bake my friends a loaf of banana chocolate chip bread whether it is to celebrate their birthday, to comfort them during a loss of a family member, or purely for the enjoyment of seeing a smile on their face. Food is meant for celebration, comfort, or just simple enjoyment.

During the summer, my family constantly stops by a farmer’s market to gather fresh vegetables to cook on the grill or berries to serve over ice cream. Once in a while we will head to the downtown Minneapolis farmer’s market for a much larger selection of flowers, vegetables, bread, honey, and many sweets. Indulging in fresh locally grown food is very important to my family. We prefer buying food that travels little distance to get to us. Unfortunately, by living in the Midwest, we have to buy fruit during the winter that traveled long distances.

Food’s last main significance in my life is to relieve stress. When cooking dinner or baking bread I am able to eliminate all other distractions—homework, sports, application deadlines…— and focus on the things that I love to do. When baking, I focus on what is in front of me rather than what outside thing needs to get done.

Food carries much significance in cultural, social, familial, and geographical ways. I associate food mainly with my family; we cook together and spend time talking about our day at the dinner table. Eating dinner together may seem of little importance to others but to me it is a way to spend more time with my family. When I am away at college I am unable to have these family moments so I enjoy them all the more when we are all together. The flavor and texture of food I eat is important, but I am much more grateful for whom I am with than what I am eating.