Posts

Relationships Made With Food

By -
Image
  As I’ve previously mentioned in a prior blog post, I’ve consistently been considered to be a fine chef in my family circle. While I’ve only shared a little bit about my cooking exploits thus far, I feel as though I should provide a little bit of context behind how I got to be a comfortable chef, along with giving credit where credit is due to the person (or rather, people) who helped me learn how to appreciate this practice. While many of the middle eastern recipes I know by heart have predominantly come from the kitchen of my late grandmother, she had passed away before she could complete teaching me how to make certain more complex dishes from our family history/heritage. With this having been said though, the annual family reunion that is held in Slater park every year allowed me to meet (and get to know) another elderly member of my clan who is highly knowledgeable in our family’s traditional recipes.  This individual, who I believe is a third cousin of mine, goes by the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Taste, Food, and Love

By -
       My childhood was heavily embedded with notions of food equating to love. My grandmother is the type of person who asks if you're hungry as soon as you come in the door, and isn't satisfied until she sees that you're properly fed. She taught me almost everything I know about cooking, and says that one of the greatest acts of love is feeding and taking care of the people who mean the most to you. When I was around 10-11 she opened a small catering business out of her home to show her love not just to family but to her community, and the small town of Pembroke, Georgia has been blessed with homemade bread, peanut butter bars, and chicken salad ever since.      Because of my grandmother, food is how I express my love to the people I care about. Whether that's cooking dinner for my family, baking something on a whim for a friend, or working food service as I have my whole life, food is a way to give back. Knowing that you're taking care of people and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Taste/Religion in the Kitchen Post: Shake & Bake

By -
Image
      It's a tale as old as time, woman cook good and man eat. This is how it's depicted in TV, movies and other forms of media. But as a child I was convinced it was the other way around, my mother was a horrible cook. She often admitted it when I was little, after her and my dad separated I did realize a lot of our food was from a bag or box. The only thing my mom often made "from scratch" required a shake and bake box of breading which now my stepfather deems as not truly from scratch. All of the good scratch food I had was from my Dad, he was Italian and Texan which he believes it the best food worlds. He would make stews, pasta, and lots of forms of meat. So whenever I heard of this women are good cooks my brain kind of rejected it. My grandmother tried really hard to reinforce this saying "it just skipped a generation Charlotte, our women are good cooks." Now I find this hard to believe that the women in my family are great cooks when the one telling m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Taste and Family Rituals

By -
Image
     Taste is a major sense in life because it can connect us to our religious beliefs, cultural practices, and traditions. Although I do not actively practice religion or cultural traditions, I can connect to taste similarly. Through taste, I can be transported to an old memory or connect on a deeper level with an individual or even learn something new. Perez emphasizes in the chapter that taste is much more than personal food preferences. Her discussion made me think about the food rituals my own family has developed and how they influence me.  My candy of choice as a kid      I can recall from my childhood that I was made to watch etiquette videos to learn how to eat politely. However, it was not all bad because after I completed the videos I was required to watch for the week, I was rewarded with a king-size candy bar. I also remember my parents repeatedly saying, “Act like the Obamas are here.” This meant that I was expected to behave properly dur...
Post a Comment
Read more

If You’re Fond of Sand Dunes and Salty Air…

By -
Image
     My grandmother has lived in Cape Cod (first seasonally then permanently) since she was a teenager in the 1950’s. Her house, which was built by her father, is within walking distance of a stretch of beach. Over the years my family have visited her and my grandfather, usually during the summer, so I have been lucky enough to experience the beauty and richness of the environment during the peak of the season.    The amount of smells floating around on a hot July day in Cape Cod can be quite overwhelming. If I were to close my eyes and image I had stepped onto her front yard, some things that come to are (but not limited to): hydrangea bushes; the faint scent of pine trees; sunscreen; a dry mix of sand and stone from the dirt road that forms yellow clouds mingled with the moist salty air wafting up from the ocean. These scents have a comforting and nostalgic effect on me, one that has been shared for thousands of years by secular and non-secular people ali...
1 comment
Read more

Aroma of Righteousness: “Grands Boulevards” 100ML Fragrance “For Him” Bought at 47 Pass. Jouffroy, 75009 Paris, France, June 9th, 2025… and other olfactory experiences abroad.

By -
Green speaks on the power of scent and the memory it can conjure, the surreal experiences it can create. Smell has always been something I’ve been quite privy too— whether it be a pleasant or putrid one, headache inducing or heart warming, I crave the experience of linking something to a scent. One summer a handful of years ago (it was June of 2025…) I had the opportunity to take a week in Paris after a study abroad semester in Japan. Where my memory fails me, my experience in the olfactory department does not. Mainly because I bought fragrances in both locations that I constantly sniff, but that’s besides the point. Let me go over some of these scents, the good and bad, and put what Green discusses to real life experiences: Philosopher's Path, Kyoto, Japan. April 5th, 2025 : On this day I decided to take a stroll down a historic path many have dubbed "Philosopher's Path.” I think it has something to do with how many great artists, writers, creatives, etc, have walked ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Good, The Bad, And the Pleasing. Aroma of Righteousness

By -
Image
 The conclusion section of Aroma of Righteousness got me to think. What are bad smells that are comforting or enjoyable? God apparently likes the smell of a dead person. I know I don't, but what might be something like that? It isn't a DEAD human, but it's hard not to like the smell of a person. Whether it be a cologne, a shampoo, or whatever natural oils. When you really care about someone, platonically or romantically, you notice that stuff. Lying on the couch with a former boyfriend, I was absolutely outraged to find out, through my nose, that he had gotten a different deodorant. I didn't like the original one, a bit too "man" for my taste, but when he changed it, I missed it. He didn't smell like himself anymore.  My aunt is similar. Every time I see her, I'm immediately swooped into a lovely squishy hug, and she always smells the same. I'm not sure what it is, but it's always a typical overly floral aunt perfume, and it reminds me of famil...
1 comment
Read more