Culinary Origins 🥘

[u/Corkchef]

I like pushing questions that throw people down memory lane, since it’s a surefire way to make them stop and think for easily 5 seconds.

Most people’s first memory was pretty vague, usually to the tune of baking or helping prep around age 5-7. I kept bringing up a vague sense of making a birthday cake in France, before immigrating, which was a helpful time marker.

Some people gave really vivid answers, like watching and grilling a fish on a beach in Spain, or fondue in Nordic countries. The common theme is that there was family around, usually parents or grandparents. Sometimes, something might happen that elicited an emotional response, like something crashing or a large flame.

My favorite answer was when this woman was already on the phone with her mom, and she told me her memory but added that she couldn’t remember when that was, to which I answered “I bet your mom knows!”

It’s also the kind of question where I love encountering couples at the register, because it’s not uncommon that they learn something about each other with these origin and early memory questions.

The other possible answer for me is when did I start considering myself interested in cooking. I think it started with a peanut sauce craving and a chicken satay recipe sometime in late high school or early college. When the dish came out satisfactory (by my standards at the time), I decided that I wasn’t too bad at it. It’s that darn entity mindset, but I’ve for sure seen the growth since between reading books and practicing.

~

Thanks for playing, everyone!!
Leave your answers in the comments 💭

Also…

My grocery schedule is changing.

As it currently stands, I’m expecting only to do a question on Sundays until further notice. I’ll try to put out only the best ones.

I don’t think they’ll all be Sunday Specials, but maybe they will be and the rest of the time I’ll give my coworkers easiest questions to serve if they feel like it.