Chaotic Kitchen

“No that’s not how you hold a knife, like this, c’mon put your knuckle against the blade.”

There are many things in life that we let pass by unnoticed, and there are thousands of things everyday we tend to unconsciously push towards unimportance. Today, it seems that food and where it comes from is one of them. Now, it’s common to have a blind eye towards these issues. And to these people, I would tip my hat and ask: where does your food come from? How was it prepared? Do you even know what’s in it? But to the pizza-pocket loving, twinky stuffing, frozen dinner enjoying American, these questions are irrelevant and for the most part of a nuisance to blissful oblivion. It’s honestly sad to say that we as a people, a country upheld for its wealth and status, cannot be self-sustainable with one of life’s basic necessities.

I started cooking before my earliest memories. My father being a classically trained chef at the C.I.A. ( no not the shooty shooty bang bang CIA but the Culinary Institute of America). He showed me how to properly hold a knife and how to prep ingredients for him while all of the other kids were learning how to color inside the lines. I never really understood the magnitude of what my dad did for me. Going forward a decade or so, I pride myself on my ability to create and my knowledge of each item in my fridge and my strive to learn more and understand different people through a international-shared level, food.

The answers to my questions of culinary self-awareness are commonly unable to be answered in 2013 by the youth, I would be confident with that statement. Preferably, people would eat unprocessed foods and shop locally and organically, yet price and interest are to blame in this situation. According to the CDC, 1 in 3 children are obese or overweight. So to be put in more understandable terms, out of the approximate population at Casa Grande High School of 1,800 kids, 600 of them will be suffering from a bad diet, serious health risks, possible type 2 diabetes, and a future stricken with health problems. So my question for children today, is why not? Why shouldn’t you experience fantastic food? Why shouldn’t you try new cuisine? and Why not? I take my understanding for granted, I know I can’t do otherwise, for where would I be without this as a part of me?

Cooking has been an outlet for me for the longest time, it gives me a chance to create and if it doesn’t work out, and I mess up there’s no penalty except not reaching perfection. If people want to be able to see different cultures through a new lense, the culinary arts is the way to go. So in all I guess you could say I am only a product of my past. Which would be completely true regardless, but where I am now and what are my life long goals are simply that. A product. A final dish right before it’s sent out, just waiting on that last ok, shaking in anticipation for my last garnish. Many ingredients come in, but just one, chaotic being -a dish- that for some reason works together beautifully, comes out of life or out of the kitchen.