Your Cooking, and How You Began

[Carrot Top]

I'm curious about what people cook at home, here in the US and in other places.

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

[SheenaGreena]

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

I cook mainly korean (what I ate growing up) and japanese with a smidgen of western foods thrown in.

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

Im from Maryland with a Korean mother and a Caucasian father. My father's family is heavily influenced by pennsylvania dutch cooking so that has somewhat of an effect on the way I cook. Im attracted to korean and japanese cooking becuase I am familiar mostly with korean and I can apply a lot of korean ingredients to japanese dishes. Plus Japanese cooking is easy for me, very enjoyable, delicious, and healthy.

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

I guess I have been cooking since highschool, but I really started after I failed (miserably) out of my first year of college in 2001. I cook more japanese now that I am more familiar with it through egullet.

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

I mainly learned how to cook from watching my mother (which is more difficult than it sounds), watching a lot of cooking shows, and of course mainly from egullet.

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

hopefully in the future I will learn how to make kimchi for the first time and learn how to bake. I can't even bake chocolate chip cookies...they come out horribly every time.

[K8memphis]

I'm curious about what people cook at home, here in the US and in other places.

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

←

I have certain recipes that I have polished up over the years but not many. Truth to tell I am not a very good cook. Although I've learned a lot from Chef-boy (our son) of all people. I mean as the kids were growing up I thought a box or two of Rice A Roni Fried Rice, some meatloaf and green beans is a pretty good dinner time. Hey I graduated to boxes of Couscous. Add a few sauted onions, girl, I'm a freaking gourmet! No wonder my husband does the cooking and Chef-boy went to culinary school. But I do the holiday stuff. And I can bake tea-rings around both of them.

I mean I had some customers hooked on my stuff at the tea-room but again I just have a couple well polished comfort food type recipes. I excel in presentation and in baking.

As for the future, I am very very happy with my husband's cooking. Breakfast this morning was excellent. Scrambled-y egg with tomato, melty garlic chunks, sweet onions, a bite of a toasty bagel, lotsa spicy pepper, mmm. We eat like royalty when Chef-boy-wonder comes home to visit. Our daughter had us over for supper on Father's Day--Wow I'm blessed! Surrounded by greatness. My eating future looks pretty good because other people are doing the cooking.

I'm either in between deals or have a deal going for my sugar art. Currently have a deal going...

edited to say: But my heart beats for quantity cooking. I love to make huge quantities of whatever it is. Maybe that's why I don't like to cook for the two of us.

Edited June 19, 2007 by K8memphis (log)

[jumanggy]

I tend to cook from other cultures. I'm from the Philippines, born and raised-- I haven't really learned to make the traditional Filipino fare, but I figure there will always be time in the future to learn that (and in the meantime, plenty of other people who will cook those). All this exposure to the internet, foodtv, restaurants, magazines, and ESPECIALLY the eGullet forums is exciting me too much to want to learn things I've basically eaten my whole life.

What attracts me to what I choose to cook is its "newness," flavor, health-consciousness, and since I've been here, how much people regard it in an international scale. However, I haven't been cooking seriously for very long. I've always gravitated towards Italian and Chinese cuisine.

My interest in cooking started from magazines. I used to leaf through Food & Wine when I was a kid (while listening to Wilson Philips, ha ha ha). Then we got cable, and I watched the 3 big cooking shows of my life-- Baker's Dozen, Biba's Italian Kitchen, and Caprial's Cafe (and I hated the Urban Peasant). Then I was old enough (and we had enough money) to dine at this new place that serves this oddity called "fusion cuisine." I was hooked. Magazines-tv-learning from what i eat-internet. Big steps.

The only direction I want is "up," if that makes sense. That is, my short attention span wants something bolder and more exciting each time. But I'm still trying to get all the techniques under my belt. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to know all the traditional Filipino dishes like the back of my hand.

[Live It Up]

It's hard for me to say where my cooking style comes from. My mom is a very good cook, but she tends to make a lot of very simple protein plus starch plus veg meals. I'm sure she was a more adventurous cook when my father was alive, but I really only remember the meals she made after he died when I was 9. I seem to remember a lot of the same dishes over and over again. Same goes for extended family gatherings, which always consisted of the same few things: pot roast (Jewish brisket), matzoh ball soup, roasted chicken or turkey, etc. I'm from NYC, so despite the boring repetoire of food at home, there's pretty much every food culture to experience here. So, I guess I don't really cook from my home culture, if I'm defining that by the foods I ate growing up at home. I cook from all over the map, and I love making new things. My favorites to cook are korean, mexican, greek and italian.

I've been cooking as long as I can remember, and similarly I don't really remember acquiring my cooking skills, they're just second nature. I have always loved reading cookbooks, cooking magazines, and watching cooking programs on TV, so I'm sure all that information I've absorbed has shaped my cooking.

In the future I just hope to have more time to devote to cooking, since right now I have a hellish schedule and I have to plan my meals around what I can pick up from point a to point b and fit it into an allotted amount of time.

[faine]

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

I'm not Asian, but the majority of what we eat in my home is some variant on Asian cuisine, especially Chinese and Thai. My mom did grow up in Hong Kong and Korea as an expat, but my dad and I just really really like Asian flavors. My family on both side hails from the Deep South - Kentucky, Louisiana and North Carolina - which comes through when we eat collards or when my dad smokes Lexington style barbecue (the only way we can get it here in California is if we make it ourselves.) I definitely think that my high resistance for weird animal parts in Asian cuisine stems from Southern cuisine's similar fondness for weird animal parts. Squeamishness isn't really something we tolerate in my family.

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

I'm from the United States, but I've lived in Florida, Georgia, Utah, California and Massachusetts, so I don't think I qualify as being "from" anywhere at this point. My earliest food memories involve Asian food, especially Korean and Japanese, and that's definitely influenced what I prefer to eat and cook on my own time. I'm also attracted to Southern food, of course - it's my family heritage one way or another. I do know that I consider a New England boiled dinner a minor crime against humanity. And I refuse to go near General Tso's Chicken.

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

I'm 18 and have only just started to learn to cook. The existential fear of eating crap dorm food that comes on in college will do that to you. I pretty much know how to cook Asian and Mexican food right now, but I hope I can branch out to food from other cultures and cuisines. I came to the embarassing realization that over half of the things I make involve fish sauce as a primary ingredient. I'd love to learn how to make Spanish foods, since that's one thing we don't eat much in our household.

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

I'm mostly learning from my parents and from various cookbooks. I generally get decent instruction from them if I volunteer to help cook - laziness is a nice motivation. I'm certain they're waiting for the day I achieve total competency and I can handle all the cooking in the household myself when I'm home from school.

[Peter the eater]

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

50-50

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

I'm originally from Toronto, Canada - a very multicultural city - lots of places to sample other food cultures. I am a total omnivore.

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

I dabbled in high school and college, but then (1999) married a real food keener/skilled baker. Its been escalating ever since. I'm not really shifting, just building experience in many traditions.

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from

TV and books has been big, plus a lot of self guided exploring. And magazines! We get Bon Appetit and Fine Cooking. I find FC much better, more practical.

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

I'm not so interested in fashionable "food trends", unless its something actually new or important (eg molecular gastronomy has something to offer). I care more about cultural traditions, good nutrition, environmental issues and creativity. And I'm totally into food photography these days.

My plan? Acquire knowledge, develop technique, be healthy, have fun. Isn't that why God or Steve or somebody created eGullet?

[Pierogi]

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

Yes and no. Probably 3-4 times a month I get a wicked craving for something from my childhood.....some sort of comfort food like Mom used to make. I *must* make pierogies (hence the moniker.....) and some of my Mom's cookies at Christmas-time. For the balance of the time, I am way more adventurous than my parents ever were. Avocados and cilantro were exotic discoveries to the parents.

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

Born in the great Midwest (Chicago, Southside, aka Little Warsaw) and moved to SoCal when I was 8. Daddy was a Wisconsin farm-boy. If it didn't sit on his plate and declare itself meat and potatoes, he wasn't interested. Lasagna was outside of his comfort zone. Mom & I got wild & crazy when I was in high school. She'd cook Daddy a pot roast (well done........) and she and I would have tacos, quiche, enchiladas and gyros for the week. I think living in *multi-cultural* SoCal did broaden my culinary outlook. I also am way more inquisitive than they were......I'll try just about anything once. The thought of my parents eating foie gras, sushi, carpaccio, or soft shell crabs is something that I cannot wrap my head around. They just never would have done it. But I sure do, regularly.

How long have you been cooking....,

I remember "helping" Mom when I was very small, we still lived in Chicago. Got sort of serious about it right after I got out of high school. I'd make dinner periodically, or just help Mom out. So, let's just say.......a loooooooooooonnnnnnnggggggggggg time !

...and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

Absolutely. As I said, growing up it was meat & potatoes. We got wild when we had spaghetti or pizza ! Whoooooo-hooooo ! Now, I routinely cook Thai, Indian, Mexican, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cajun/Creole, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Middle-Eastern........you name it. I pick and choose what I like from each cuisine and go for it. My pantry is stocked with fish sauce, garam masala, coconut milk, file powder, 3 kinds (at least) of olive oil, 10 kinds of vinegars, chipotles in adobo, posole, sesame oil, siracha, Tabasco, and on and on. Mom would have loved it, but she'd also have been absolutely blown away by the variety and the diversity.

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

All of the above. The basics, and the passion, and the idea that food was a gift you gave to people you loved, from my mother. I used to read (and still do !) cookbooks like novels, I can remember reading Mom's Fannie Farmer cookbook on rainy days when I was bored. And some of my best memories are watching Julia (ahhhhhh, my hero) and Graham Kerr with Mom, and thinking what they did was way cool. I still watch all the instructional cooking shows I can find. They can only make my technique and my creativity better.

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

I just want to improve. To get more creative, more fearless, less reliant on recipes and more sure of my own tastes and palate. E-Gullet has been a huge force for my improvement in this area. And to continue to feed people I care about with dishes that I am proud of, and that I have prepared with passion and love. And I want to improve my baking skills, which are lacking. I want to master pasteries (pie crusts, tarts, cakes......I actually make decent cookies) and yeast breads (again, I make decent quick breads, especially sweet ones, but yeast breads have caused me much tsuris......)

[maher]

I have ended up cooking from all sorts of different cultures. I am from Jordan, but traditional Arab cooking is less than half of what i cook. I do find, though that i end up using my favorite spices and flavorings no matter what i cook. i wonder if it is the same with other people.

For example when i want to add a bit of sweet/sour tang to marinades, i am much more likely to go for pomegranate molasses than say balsamic vinegar. I am also likely to season with sumac to substitute for citrus/salt combo. I add a bit of tahini in lots of sauces instead of butter/oil... Im know this impacts the 'authenticity' of much of what i cook, but the flavor of tahini in thai cooking has to be tried to be believed.

All that is a long introduction to add a question to what Carrot Top started this thread with... do you all find yourselves adding your local flavorings when cooking from other cuisines?

[lilsouthernhottie]

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

I think I've got a pretty even mix. I cook a lot of Native American and 'American'...or at least American-ized foods, but I like to throw some Asian, Middle Eastern and European influences in when I can.

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

I grew up in Oklahoma and Texas. Nearly every recipe I got from my family involves either beef, pork, or bison meat in one form or another. I think the appeal of Asian and Middle Eastern food is the shocking difference in flavor and consistency from American food. (FYI, if you've never had a shawarma, you're missing out.)

I've always been a bit adventurous, and it has just carried over into food...especially since there's nobody around to complain.

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

I have been cooking for as long as I can remember...if you count licking spoons as cooking. Over the past year or so, I've taken up Portuguese cooking, mostly because I like it, but also because my SO is Portuguese ...and sends me new recipes on a near daily basis.

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

All of the above, mostly from my grandmother, my fiance, and television.

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

Well, not really. I would like to make a decent pie crust without ****ing it up.

[prasantrin]

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

Do you mean culture or ethnicity? They are two very different things, in my opinion, though there may be some overlap.

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

I was born in Thailand--my father is Thai/ethnic Chinese, while my mother is Filipino/ethnic Chinese--but I grew up in Canada (from the age of 6 months) and now live in Japan, where I have lived for a total of 9 years on and off. (I think you can kind of see why I questioned "culture" vs "ethnicity". So where am I "from"?

I mostly cook whatever I crave or whatever is easy, depending on my mood.

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

I've been cooking since I was a kid. The first real meal I cooked from scratch was probably when I was in junior high school. One year I remember making a full Italian meal (for a home ec. project). I also remember making my parents dinner one night--chicken a l'orange, some kind of pancake thing with apricots and meringue on top...I wish I still had the recipe for that one!

Both my parents grew up in relatively multicultural environments, so they were exposed to many different kinds of food, and therefore exposed me to many different kinds of food. I've never been stuck with cooking just one type of food.

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

My parents cooked a lot (dad was the chef, mom was his sous), but they never really taught me how to cook. I supposed I learned techniques mostly from watching TV (we watched Frugal Gourmet every Sunday morning together, as a family, on my parents bed) and books and magazines.

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

That's not something I really think about, or frankly, care about.

[Carrot Top]

Isn't that why God or Steve or somebody created eGullet?

←

I often get the three of them (God, Steve, and somebody) confused also, Peter.

do you all find yourselves adding your local flavorings when cooking from other cuisines?

←

Very good question about adding local flavorings when cooking from other cuisines, maher.

Do you mean culture or ethnicity?  They are two very different things, in my opinion, though there may be some overlap.

[ . . .]

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

That's not something I really think about, or frankly, care about.

←

I mean culture *or* ethnicity, Rona. Both are equal as bearers of gifts of personal meaning, in my book.

There is a trend in the world of "cooking" today to expand, to go beyond traditional borders, which is fantastic. Though there are places that *do* hold onto their traditional "cuisines" and these cuisines are strong and vital, these cuisines are the ones that people from other cultures are drawn to, to learn from and to cook, for themselves and for others.

There is also a trend which seems to be growing, to make cooking into something that can be worn as a badge of some sort of gained sophistication that raises the bearer of such sophistication to higher levels than the normal man or women who just cooks the "usual" things.

It all starts with the line from a naive and willing (and usually hungry) mouth: "Oh, you can cook *that*?" and the saga begins, a trail that leads to cooking taking on a professional and credentialized aura so very far from the cooking that many mothers did in the kitchen at home. Worlds apart.

One type offers a small world, a private world, a world of tradition, of threads of time going back with the so-personal stories attached to it - the stories of "who we are" that the mother in the kitchen will tell - either with words that tell of the foods she cooks as her mother cooked it or (if one had a quiet mother) simply in the foods themselves that come from that sort of kitchen. A small world of love offered in a very personal way.

This thing offers meaning to life, this small personalized thing. In a different way than learning from magazines, TV, etc. does, learning the wonderful foods of others that have no direct personal connection to one's own life except in a way that is further apart from the heart (but which of course should bring those foods and people closer to the heart if approached in the right way).

I admit, it sort of spooks me to think of a world where people learn to cook from TV rather than from someone that has meaning in their lives. It seems to me that this alters what food is to the soul in a very basic sort of fashion. I fear this loss, for I know the sense of "nothingness" that the foods held that my own mother who had no traditions of cooking put on the table - as opposed to the very intense sense of "somethingness" (and a good somethingness) that the foods held which my MIL (who had strong traditions of cooking, threads going back in time with cogent meaning) put on the table.

So I poke at this thing and try to figure it out. Because I'd like to be sure to offer my children the small private world of love and meaning, of narrative force, attached to the foods. The other world of learning to cook from TV or magazines they can find for themselves, as anyone really can that seeks it.

The challenge that exists (for me) is to actually find a culture or ethnicity that is cogent, as all these have been discarded in past generations for the appeal of the "American" generic culture. I don't think I'm alone in this situation, either.

Edited June 20, 2007 by Carrot Top (log)

[tejon]

Most of my cooking doesn't match my home culture at all. I grew up in Southern California, but most of the food we ate was 50s/60s comfort foods, emphasis on inexpensive ingredients (we were on welfare for a while). I haven't had creamed eggs on toast in many years, though it was a mainstay of my diet when I was little. Occasionally I'll do a pot roast or meat loaf, but for the most part I rarely cook "American" foods. I cook more Asian dishes than anything else, but recipes come from all over. I tend to love things with a lot of flavor and lots of produce.

I've been cooking since I was around six years old when my mother taught me how to scramble an egg. I learned how to do a white sauce next, and experimented like crazy over the next few years. I was a very picky eater when I was younger, so it took some time for me to branch out into other cuisines - I didn't even try Indian food until I was in college, but now it's one of my favorite things to cook and eat. I learned mostly on my own and with the help of my grandmother who was an amazing cook. My mother could produce decent food when she really tried hard, but it wasn't her thing. I've also learned a lot from recipes, from TV, from experimenting, and from trading tips with other cooks (here and with friends as well).

[Bond Girl]

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

I'm Taiwanese but grew up in Jackson Heights Queens. But, I have no idea how to cook chinese or Taiwanese food. I do cook from all ethnicities from French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese to Cajun, Indian and American (Latin and new world) foods.

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

Flavor, ingredient, and the sense of trying and creating something new. Once I know the flavor components and techniques well, I try to incorporate it into other foods, and see what I come up with.

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

I've been cooking since I was 13 and originally it was basic French stuff because it was what I could learn from a recipe book. My mom is the worst cook in the world. She has no interest in food what so ever. So, she gave me the job of cooking when I was old enough. I learned from Library books. My first cookbook was the NY Times cookbook by Craig Clairborn. I didn't know how anything I cooked was suppose to taste like but I figure if it's edible, it was good enough. The big hit in my house at that time was a German Apple Cake, the carrot cake, Herbed baked chicken and a sole baked with vegetables. Other ventures such as Croissants and pies were less successful. Later I watched Madeleine Kamman and Julia child on television and learned passable pastry techniques to make a tart.

The real training didn't come until I moved in with my ex-fiance, who though my cooking wasn't up to par for the marriage, and shipped me off to cooking school.

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

One of the best thing about food is that you are constantly challenged by palates and limitations and ever expanded by the resources and ingredients. There is always something new that curious cooks like to try, but who knows what that is until you get there.

Edited June 21, 2007 by Bond Girl (log)

[Domestic Goddess]

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

I tend to cook mostly Filipino foods for lunch (it's just me and my kids) and prepare mostly American food for supper (when hubby comes home). But I also tend to cook two kinds of meals for dinner, American AND Asian (Filipino, Korean, Chinese, etc.) for supper. The American meal for hubby and my youngest son and the Asian meal for me and my eldest son.

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

I am Filipina (tropical girl from the Philippines). I'm married to an American (who formerly was a cook/restaurant manager back in the US). I usually like to fix recipes that would please my meat and potatoes kind of guy hubby/kids, and sometimes an interesting Asian meal if I have all the ingredients at hand.

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

I've been cooking as long as I was old enough (and careful enough) to hold a knife. Being an eldest daughter in a family/clan known for its cooking meant that I would be initiated to a world of chopping/slicing/sauteing/cooking soon enough. At first, I kinda resented having to chop up dozens of onions, clean a bowlful of beansprouts, cube dozens of carrots and potatoes, etc. But then, the love of cooking grew in me and soon I was cooking food speciaties of my home town/province and soon began experimenting to other cuisines like American, Japanesea and now Korean.

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

I first learned from my mom who is a great cook and baker. Then, I ventured into a new world of cooking when I started reading cookbooks on American, Japanese, Austrian food lent to me by my best friend's mom. Then my hubby taught me a lot with his repertoire of food specialties - Fried Chicken, Beef Burritos, Italian Spaghetti, etc. And when we moved to Korea, a lot of my korean friends have undertaken the task to teach me korean recipes. Now most of my experiments originate from the web (mostly eGullet recipes).

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

I'd like to be able to fix duck confit sometime soon and see what all the brouhaha is all about.

[chile_peppa]

What interesting questions you ask and what interesting replies!

Here are my answers:

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

I cook foods from many different cultures.

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

I was born in Alleghany County, Virginia, to a Japanese mother and a Scots-Irish/Cherokee father. (Karen, you may be familiar with that area, not far from where you are, I think.) I lived there until I was almost six, then my family moved to Chicago. I have lived here since then except for my college years in New York. I have a Filipino-Italian stepmother, my mother’s husband is Salvadoran, my former husband is an Iowa farmboy of German-Swiss extraction, and other members of my family are of Polish, Greek, and Puerto Rican descent. While l have not yet traveled much outside the United States, I have been fortunate in that the world has come to me in so many ways. I like variety and, of course, I try to make food that my multicultural family and friends will enjoy.

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

I began cooking on my own at about 11 (see below), and let’s just say, I’ve been around for awhile. My “home” culture is a mix Japanese (e.g., udon, kare raisu), standard American (e.g, meat loaf), and American Southern (e.g., biscuits and gravy) foods. Now I cook almost anything, going through phases with no particular plan. I might try a new restaurant, read a book, see a movie, meet a new friend, come across a new ingredient in the store – all these things might trigger an interest in another cuisine.

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

My first experience was in “helping” my grandmother cook when I was a very small child. I don’t think I was all that useful, but she showed me how to knead and cut biscuits with a jelly glass, to choose ripe fruits and vegetables from the garden, and to enjoy food preparation from growing it yourself through eating it with people you care about. When we came to Chicago, my mother preferred carryout and quick-n-easy meals, so she didn’t cook much. When I was required to take a junior high home arts class, I loved the cooking part. I started out with the usual school recipes (creamed tuna on toast points!) but soon moved on to baking. I watched television teachers, started a now unwieldy cookbook collection that desperately needs weeding, and clipped ridiculous numbers of recipes from magazines and newspapers. I learned to make the “hot dish” type casseroles and homemade noodles from my former husband’s mother. A Polish friend showed me how to make pierogies, I’m hoping my Chinese friend will show me how to make sticky rice packages, and I’m looking for someone to help me learn to make tamales. (Hmmm, there may be a theme here.)

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

One thing that I would like to do is to find time to return to the way I cooked when my children were small and I was a full-time domestic engineer. I grew a terrific garden (yes, in the city), went to the country for u-pick fruits and vegetables, canned and froze and made jellies – all that stuff that people seem to be forgetting these days. Now I work 10-hour days, zip through the everyday meals, and make do with an occasional “domestic” weekend, when I just cook for two days. As noted above, I have no plan or focus on a particular food culture – it is all interesting to me.

[Kent D]

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

I've tried to cook everything at one time or another culturally, but most of what I cook is "Americanized ethnic food"

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

Born in Wichita, grew up in small town south of Wichita, lived in Wichita for last 20 years. Ancestors are Americanized German, with some Pennsylvania Dutch, Welsh, Native American, and who knows what else. We don't probe our ancestry back too far -- we're just middle-Americans who like to eat.

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

Cooked my first breakfast "solo" at 6 -- some inedible pancakes for my sister. Cooked my first family meal when I was 7. My family was polite enough to eat it without complaint. I think my Mom probably helped some with that one.

Regarding cultural shift -- I've always liked to experiment with foods of different cultures, and I used to treat my family to "theme meal" nights ever month or two when I was in high school. Aside from East Indian food, which I didn't have much of a cultural reference to draw from, I never heard any complaints.

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

I know I watched and helped my Mom from as early as I could sit on the cabinet, I remember watching Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet, and I used to read cookbooks for enjoyment (still do, actually.) And there was just a lot of "Get in the kitchen and wing it/trial-and-error". I'm very improvisational in the kitchen - I get an idea, and I just make it up as I go along. I don't measure well, I like to play in the spice cabinet, etc. My family/friends are my guinea pigs.

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

I don't see me ever making it career -- it would ruin things for me. Now, if I hit the lottery, I'd like to open a German Deli, but otherwise, I'll just cook for my family and friends and enjoy that.

[Pierogi]

By the way, GREAT questions/topic Carrot Top, thanks for starting it.

And great responses. Very interesting and enlightening.

[Carrot Top]

I was born in Alleghany County, Virginia, to a Japanese mother and a Scots-Irish/Cherokee father. (Karen, you may be familiar with that area, not far from where you are, I think.) I lived there until I was almost six, then my family moved to Chicago. I have lived here since then except for my college years in New York. I have a Filipino-Italian stepmother, my mother’s husband is Salvadoran, my former husband is an Iowa farmboy of German-Swiss extraction, and other members of my family are of Polish, Greek, and Puerto Rican descent. While l have not yet traveled much outside the United States, I have been fortunate in that the world has come to me in so many ways. I like variety and, of course, I try to make food that my multicultural family and friends will enjoy.

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Yes, chile-peppa, I know that area in Virginia. I wonder how the trajectory of your "food life" ( ) would have been different if your family had remained there and not moved to Chicago . . .

.............................................

The answers to these questions *are* really interesting. I'm glad to hear these stories.

[Fengyi]

Very interesting topic - and I have been thinking about my cooking style for a while recently after moving from Cambridge UK (lots of lovely English raw ingredients, some hard to find Asian ingredients and nowhere to eat out) to Beijing (lots of lovely Chinese ingredients, some hard to find Western ingredients and EVERYWHERE to eat out in almost EVERY type of cuisine).

The move has made me really re-examine the types of foods I am cooking now and why.

Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures?

That's the sort of thing I'm thinking about right now. I tend to cook Asian or European in Beijing -which are about as close to my home cultures as I can guess. I would cook other types more if I could get the ingredients (and if it weren't so easy now just to stroll down the street to a Cuban restaurant, Indian place or Brazilian BBQ!).

In the restaurant-desert that was Cambridge, I cooked mainly Korean, Japanese, Chinese (northern), Indian (nothern as well), Mexican, Spanish, French, Italian and Greek. Very little South American or Middle Eastern. The main problem was finding ingredients! I was game for cooking any culture's food any time - and because we had to cook every single day, it kept me from getting bored!

Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook?

A bit of a mix - like chile-peppa....Machurian/Chinese/English/Canadian in my immediate family, including cousins add Spanish/Australian/Japanese/Indonesian/ and Dutch. I'm from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Canada (Quebec and BC), UK and now PRChina.

I must say that sheer and utter GREED attracts me to the things I chose to cook.

(yesterday I made the mistake of hitting a Russian food store going home a bit drunk after a party....now I have to cook something with all the sour cream I bought in my enthusiasm......)

How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time?

At the age of nine, I fell in love with Julia Child's cooking. It was SO different from my mum's Chinese food. So the next year after watching all the shows, the first dinner party I cooked solo was french onion soup, chicken in cream sauce and JC's very own Baked Alaska a la Vesuvius (but my dad helped me with the flambe part!). At the same time, I was in the kitchen learning about (mainly) northern China food from my mum and eating loads of Japanese food with my aunties.

I then suffered through 6 years of English boarding school food - the less said of that, the better....

After escaping from Prison, I went crazy cooking everything and anything I could lay my hands on - I was living in Montreal, with my own kitchen and life was good!This is when I really started to learn things from friends - like how to make Punjabi food, how to make homefries and american pancakes, how to cook baklava and good souvlaki, etc... then I moved to China for a bit and fell in love with Korean food! By the time I moved back to the UK, I could cook enough Asian dishes so I wouldn't miss out anything that I liked to eat

Egullet has also been an invaluable source of ideas and inspiration!

Now my favourite cooking is fusion of a type- using asian ingredients for european-style dinner parties. But don't get the chance here to do that as all my cooking stuff is in storage/on the high seas!

How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?)

All three and egullet!- I have gobbled up any material on food and cooking that I can get my hands on! I am also shameless in forcing various people to show me how to make things from their own cooking tradition (have now got a couple of Hui minority dishes under my belt thanks to my ayi!)

What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

Wherever my greed takes me next!

[i just spent the morning at the new Fauchon in Beijing....drooling ever so slightly.]

[chile_peppa]

Yes, chile-peppa, I know that area in Virginia. I wonder how the trajectory of your "food life" ( ) would have been different if your family had remained

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I often wonder how different the whole of my life would have been had we stayed there!

When I have returned to visit, I have found that few people cook the "old-timey" way my grandmother did, though my aunt does still grow a gigantic garden and puts food up. My cousins like grocery stores and packaged foods much better. Don't get me started on the skinny red-dyed hot dogs made from miscellaneous parts. And of course, there is very little ethnic diversity up there in the high mountains. Let's just say it is an "interesting" place to be for a person like me.

[john028]

Hello,

can you tell us how did you find cooking?

[Lisa Shock]

My mom hates to cook, my dad grilled occasionally. Mom always appreciated help with the housework, (actually, we all had required chores) and sometime when I was 4 she let me cut up salad vegetables while standing on a chair. I liked it. I liked being able to make things and being able to make them to my liking was a big bonus. Within a few months I started cooking some basic dishes like soups and spaghetti sauce. I started reading cookbooks around the same time. -Grownup cookbooks; I didn't start getting kids cookbooks until my dad figured out that I liked cooking a lot and started buying them for me as gifts -even then, I could tell that the regular cookbooks were superior to the kids' books. I recall teaching my younger brother to read by reading a cookbook with him. My first cookbook was La Cuisine de France: The Modern French Cookbook. It was a big adventure for me to read recipes, think about them then decide which ones to choose to make. I got a lot of experience with taste and ingredients at a young age because my mom hated being in the kitchen.

 

I just kept going. I recall making petit fours when I was 9, you couldn't buy tubs of fondant then, I tabled my own. I actually had a baked goods stand at arts and crafts festivals on weekends for a couple of summers - I was 11-13 at the time. I like to try new things and kept reading cookbooks and trying the food.

[Jaymes]

Like to cook.  My mom hated to cook.  She had to when we were young because that's how it was.  The meals she turned out were often so imaginative in their shortcuts that they make me laugh when I think about them today.  Her idea of potato salad was, first, make instant mashed potatoes, then stir in some mayo, pickle relish, onion and chopped hard-boiled egg and serve immediately.  We kids were the only people on the planet that thought all potato salad was warm and smooth.  I think Mom's favorite thing about being Catholic was that she got to serve us fish sticks on Fridays and pretend it was because she was pious.  Sloppy Joes were cut-up wieners simmered in bottled barbecue sauce and ladled over hamburger buns.

 

But then came the weekend, and Dad took over the kitchen.  He was a wonderful cook and loved it.  Still does.  Even now, at 94.  He learned from his mother who was a legendary southern cook and, at one time, even owned a small hotel and restaurant at a place called Goose Creek, south of Houston, on Galveston Bay. 

 

As soon as Dad retired from work, Mom retired from cooking.

 

And we were all the better for it.

[Porthos]

I found myself interested in cooking from an early age, while still in grade school. I started cooking some family meals when I got into 7th grade. When I went into high school (9th grade) my mother decided that I was to cook all family dinners since she was busy with her business. Somewhere along the line while in high school I discovered cookbooks. And the rest, as they say, is history.

 

My wife is an excelent cook and both of my daughters, now grown and married, discovered the pleasures of cooking along the way. My younger daughter, her hubby and their adorable 17 month-old baby boy live with us and my daughter is cooking the family dinners. She is enjoying researching recipes to keep things fresh.