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I was requested by my mother to write a piece explaining why I used to detest cooking and why I now seem to love it. I’ve never hated cooking, so that just goes to show how knowledgeable she is. I’ve never had to do it on my own, though. Despite having quite different cooking methods for today recipes today, both my mother and father are amazing cooks. When I could have meals cooked by experienced chefs, why would I cook my own bland food?
My mother mistakenly believes that I detested cooking because I didn’t often assist her in the kitchen. Could you really blame me? When I was younger, I wanted to go sit in my room and consume all the food while listening to music, just like any other teenager.
After that, every now and then in middle school and high school, I would get inspired by something and want to make it. I had a serious sugar tooth, so I usually wanted to bake something. Personally, I like to think of myself as a cook out of need. I used to cook when I was younger because I wanted to consume what I saw. On Mother’s Day, I used to also usually prepare breakfast recipes in bed for my mother, but I wasn’t always successful. But my mother is right—it took some time for me to start cooking on a daily basis. I was always well-fed by both of my parents, so I never really needed to. My distance from home was barely an hour even during my time in college.
My mother was talking about the miraculous “cooking bug” that I acquired upon returning from my year abroad in Leeds, England. I mean, is it really so shocking that I preferred to prepare my own meals instead consuming English cuisine every single day? That’s exactly what I did during my first semester in Leeds—I ate out almost every meal. I rapidly ran out of money and became bored with pasties since, as you might understand, that was neither sustainable nor very entertaining.
During my second semester, I worked on improving my money management skills and developed stronger relationships with two of my roommates who are.
I started out small, preparing stir fries with whatever I could find in the box. Next, I would roast veggies and look for additions for the seasonal foods we received in the box. Naturally, my cravings for the foods I would eat at home—my mother’s African cuisine and New Mexican food—grew stronger the longer I was away from home and the more I started cooking. My roommates thought I was crazy when I talked about green chilies recipes. My mother assumed I had developed a culinary addiction when I began to ask her for recipes of foods I was craving. In reality, though, my need for food increased when I was living alone abroad. Of course, I began to.
For me, cooking today recipes today is a really spiritual experience, especially when I’m making African food. Grotowski describes how he was able to grasp the entirety of history through a variety of chants and rites he experienced while visiting Haiti. I feel like I can access my entire past when I cook. I have a strong sense of ancestral connection. I cease to be myself, and I am every culinary woman who has come before me.
Cooking is at the heart of every society
Many cultures place a high value on cooking, and Cameroon is no exception. This is why I enjoy cooking for other people; it helps me feel rooted and a part of my history and culture. In African culture, you always prepare enough food for your family and anyone else who might stop by that day, friend or stranger. I giggle to myself because I now cook in the same way that my mother has always done. I used to moan about eating the same thing every day. I have read and heard a great deal about my mother’s relationship with her grandmother and her own cooking background. I suppose that connecting with my great-grandmother through cooking
Summary
Cooking recipes today is a very human activity. Though we do occasionally find and consume food on the earth, this is one of the ways that we differ from other creatures. We modify and customize many foods in our environment to suit our preferences. Cooking connects me to the past of not cooking because it involves something genuinely historic.
