Menus, Markets, and Memories

My best memories start with a bite. The first time I ever tried crawfish, my dad tells me— I was too young to remember— that I used one hand to fan air into my mouth because the crustacean was too spicy, and I used the other hand to reach for more crawfish. Ever since then, any form of celebration in my family was accompanied by a crawfish boil. My friends and family crowd around collapsable and trash bag wrapped tables, and we talk, peel, and eat. This was the setting of my first communion, all of my birthday parties, and my high school graduation. Now that I am in my third year of college, I still find ways to crowd as many people as I can around my kitchen table.

This blog will focus on the community within food. As I share recipes, restaurants, and grocery lists, I will also be sharing stories from my kitchen growing up. I’m originally from Austin, Texas, but my parents now live in New Orleans, Louisiana. To make the 2,553.3 miles between us feel a little shorter, we are constantly sending each other pictures of new recipes, restaurants, grocery hauls, or what we cooked that day. Food brings people together. It always has.

National Geographic once did a story on the joy of food.

“‘To break bread together,’ a phrase as old as the Bible, captures the power of a meal to forge relationships, bury anger, provoke laughter,” the story says.

I am no expert in the kitchen. Cooking chicken is still always a little scary. I don’t know how to efficiently chop an onion—  or anything for that matter. But being in the kitchen, smelling the spices as they dance around in the air, listening to jazz music—  just like my dad does when he is in the kitchen—  always puts a smile on my face. 

The kitchen can be an intimidating place. The last thing on my family’s television before bed was always the Food Network, and the kitchen was a place of drama and intensity. I hope with my blog, I can share the comfort of a kitchen, and the excitement of grocery shopping, a mundane task I always look forward to. I will share different recipes, my favorite ingredients, the most memorable restaurants, my family’s best moments in the kitchen, and so much more. Grab a snack, your grocery list, get cozy, and stay a while!