Fooding

I was watching this show on the Travel Channel tonight instead of studying for my midterms. This word, fooding, came up when the host asked this French chef why he loved food so much and what it meant to him. The chef responded that it was the memories from cooking, not the fancy ingredients or the name of the restaurant, that meant something to him. He went on to say it was the feeling of bringing joy to others through the simple act of creating and sharing a necessity that made him want to become a chef.

Something in that little clip spoke to my soul. I love to bake and cook. If I could do anything for the rest of my life, I would run a bakery or a bistro. That feeling of satisfaction when you've created something that is pleasing to all the senses is wonderful. Recently I've gone on a birthday cake spree, making a Bowser cake and a Princess Peach cake. This week's task is a joint project Batman cake. You'd think these things were for 5 and 6 year old kids, but my very "adult" friends have been requesting them.

It's an outlet for me. If depression is creeping up on me or I feel really upset, I bake three dozen madeleines, or I steam some Xiaolóngbāo. I've realized that I do this purely as a stress-reliever, and I rarely actually eat most of what I make. At first it was my family, but now my poor roommate and friends are test subjects for everything that I make. I feel particularly bad for subjecting them to some pretty horrendous stuff, like the infamous lemon pound cake that had way too much lemon. They're really brave considering some of the monsters I've birthed from the oven.

I put a lot of time and effort into everything that I make, and I try my best to do it from scratch. There's something special about spending hours in the kitchen making something that didn't come straight from the store or even a box. But I feel like I'm trying to create some sort of fantasy of my own. My mother and grandmother rarely cook traditional homemade meals like the Sunday dinner of years past. I guess I want something like that because I'm getting older. More and more time passes between family get-togethers, and we're all getting older as the days pass.

I'm worried that there will come a time when I don't enjoy cooking or baking. What really frightens me is that I think that day is coming sooner than I thought.