FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD

Food can do amazing things. Memories are sparked, ideas are formed and emotions are stirred. All of this from a little heat, some spices and the right ingredients. Experiencing good food is a journey. Tasting it is almost the last step in the journey and one that sadly marks the beginning of the end. The true wonder can be found in the hunt. It is in our genes to hunt for food and we forget that when we go shopping. If you’ve decided on a meal then you’ve begun the journey. The next step is to hunt down the perfect ingredients. The trip to the store, walking the aisles and searching for the perfect tomato, pasta, cut of meat..etc, helps to build the anticipation and excitement of what is to come. Your brain is already imagining what it will smell like, what it will taste like and what it will feel like in your mouth. After arriving home and getting to the kitchen the true preparation begins. This begins the great story arc of scents. We wash and cut our vegetables, prepare our meats and sauces and choose our seasonings. The smell of oven heating and raw food, to cold seasonings and combinations of smells spread through the house. An imperceptible change occurs during cooking, and it reaches the downswing of the arc. This is where the smells of the kitchen start poking at those comfortable corners of our minds that we retreat to when it all becomes too much. The scents of a good meal being cooked, run right to the memories of sledding with siblings and visiting grandma. It sidles up to Thanksgiving day and the smell of the grass in an evening t-ball game. Food can do amazing things, and we haven’t even tasted it yet.