Cooking up a storm

I have always loved cooking. When I was a little girl, I would watch my mom and grandma in the kitchen preparing dinner (and dessert of course). I remember being totally mesmerized at the fact that 2 eggs, stick of butter, a cup of that white powdery stuff, and some chocolate chips could make such amazing cookie dough; and that after a few minutes in the oven (which of course felt like hours to me and my sister), such pretty and delicious cookies would appear. I watched their every move, taking in all the measurements and careful substitutions in like a sponge soaking up water. And as I grew up, a lot of things changed, except for my love of cooking.

Day in day out, I spend more time in the kitchen than I do anywhere else. From cookies to crème brulee, recipes present me with a challenge that is way more exciting than homework (and tastier).

I’ve also found that baking has its own language. They say that math is the true universal language, but I’d have to say that baking breaks all language barriers. Every nation can understand what 3 cups of flour or 2 tablespoons of curry means. On that note, cooking is exciting also because it varies from culture to culture and from place to place. Obviously, American “Chinese” dishes are vastly different that traditional Chinese meals. The same goes for every genre of food; everyone puts their own spin on things. It is this meshing of cultures that makes cooking so exciting. The idea that a dish can be kind of bland one minute and then amazing the next, just by adding a foreign spice or ingredient is fascinating to me. It is this love for adventurous tastes that convinced me to experiment in my cooking. Though I do appreciate the instructions of a recipe and the structure that one brings to a dish, I believe that adding a random ingredient or changing something about the dish makes it more exciting

Never had I realized how immersed cooking and baking have become in pop culture. From television shows to movies to YouTube videos and tutorials, everyone has access to recipes and cooking help at their fingertips. Before taking this class, I also had no idea that the presence of these multiple mediums is a prime example of remediation. Technology has taken the recipes and ingredients in my kitchen and put them on a television show, and then in a movie, and still then on a website. Though the original mediums still exist, every new medium presented becomes more advanced, exciting, and accessible than the last.

Needless to say, cooking and baking are not new phenomena. Therefore, the previous examples of mediums that I gave are not the first types of remediation of this practice. People have been preparing food since the beginning of time, so cooking carries a history of consistent change.

"Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon."

Dalai Lama