4 min read
Food and Cooking
Growing up in Afghanistan, food has been an important part of my life. In part, this is due to the fact that dining out is not part of the Afghan culture. So, I have had the opportunity of witnessing meals being prepared multiple times a day, most of my life. In addition to the regular meals being prepared at home, I have seen many a feasts being prepared, too.
This may sound like a cliche but I remember being interested in cooking as a kid. When I was around 8 years old, there was a bakery down the street from our house where we used to buy bread. I must have been very interested in how they were making the bread because one day, I asked them if I can participate. They were nice and they let me make one. This is the earliest instance of me cooking, that I remember.
In Afghanistan, however, it is traditionally the women that cook. Therefore, apart from the occacional instances of me helping out, I did not have the opportunity to explore and did not express particular interest in it either. Perhaps, this was in part due to cooking not being seen as a respectable profession.
Enter Finland
Yeah, I like pinapple on a pizza.
In October 2011, I moved to Finland to pursue a degree in Engineering. I arrived with virtually no cooking experience and for a month or so, lived off of pizzas. There was a pizzeria on the same street as my apartment called "Bella Vista". I loved their Pizza Hawaii which included blue cheese, pinapple and chicken as toppings. Yeah, I like pinapple on a pizza.
It was around this time that I stumbled upon a YouTube channel called Food Wishes. In his cooking channel, Chef John Mitzewich had a unique approach where he would focus on the food, rather than himself. He would sometimes jokingly say that he has what he calls a "Radio Face". So, he does not show it and instead just shows the food. It was through this channel that I started my exploration of food and cooking.
Over the past almost 8 years, cooking and watching others cook has been a regular part of my life. It has had a profound impact on how I view and experience life. It has made it easier to live so far away from my family, to whom I am very close. I miss many things from Afghanistan but cooking Afghan food has allowed me to recreate a part of that experience right here in Finland.
I naturally started by cooking Afghan food. But, over the years, I have been expirementing with food from different parts of the world. I usually focus on a specific cuisine, months at a time. For instance, there have been several months where I specifically focused on Italian food. A few months ago, I was primarily cooking Indian food and more recently, I am focusing on Japanese cuisine.
Cooking as a profession
I have, over the years, entertained the idea of cooking professionaly. However, I have always concluded that I would not want to work in a kitchen. What excites me in cooking is trying new things and "going with the flow". The industrial kitchen experience, generally, is more that of repeating the same set of processes quickly with the aim of being consistant. To me, consistence is important when wanting to recreate an experience. It is just that I want to create new experiences.
There are, however, dishes that I find myself cooking over and over again. Qabili Palaw, a rice dish from Afghanistan, is one. Borani Banjan, an eggplant dish from Afghanistan, is another.
Cooking and dining well
The vast number of ingredients and techniques in which food can be prepared is baffling. What's more is that new combinations of ingredients and techniques can be created practically every time one cooks. Add to this the subjectivity of what tastes good and you have yourself a question that is practically impossible to answer: What's the best way to cook this?
What ultimately determines the best way to prepare something for you, is to make it yourself
There are, for sanity's sake, instructions available on "how to cook". These can be, for example, recipes to certain dishes. However, what ultimately determines the best way to prepare something for you, is to make it yourself. I have decided that I will do that. Eating is a full body experience and I do not intend to compromise on enjoying it to its maximum.
Food and company
Cooking is an act of love. It is through cooking that we can express how much we care for someone. In addition, I have yet to see unhappy faces around good food. Looking at the faces of others eating my food, their faces lighting up with enjoyment, is something that I enjoy most. Perhaps, this is a motivation to cook even better.
Food is what brings people together. We might have our differences but we can all appreciate a good meal.
New experiences
We all have select dishes that we enjoy. We may call these dishes our favourite due to different reasons. Perhaps, it is a dish from our childhood or that trip to Indonesia. However, I prefer a more abstract view of these dishes by not simply reducing it to the ingredients and the way the ingredients have been prepared. Rather, I view it as an experience that encompasses not just the dish itself but also the context, company, ones inner feelings etc. For example, a rich warm bowl of soup might "taste" better on a cold winter evening rather than a hot summer day.
In conclusion, I have enjoyed all the time I have spent related to food and cooking. I believe being more involved with what we eat is something that we can all enjoy in one way or another. Therefore, I hope that we will do more of it.