Connections Through Food

           In the reading for Ahn and Nicholson, both of the authors made connections with family and culture through food but both did it in a different way. For Ahn, his connection with food was more about a cultural sense where as Nicholson’s connection with food related mainly to his mother. Nicholson explains in his article how eating the kind of food that his mother did, he is honoring her memory. Nicholson notes, “Every once in a while I feel the need to replicate the kind of lunch she and I ate together many times.” It is a way for him to connect with his mother who has passed away. Ahn connected with food more as a way to connect with his Korean heritage. Ahn explains. “All I can say for sure is that something sublime happened in that mecca of Korean cuisine—the Rockies—where I rediscovered my native food heritage.” By cooking in a Korean style he was bale to connect with his Korean roots like his parents always wanted him to. Both Ahn and Nicholson connected with food as a way to connect with something that they had lost many years before.

            Reading these articles did remind me of a connection that I have with food. In Ahn’s article he talks about how his mother taught him how to cook and he still bases how he cooks on what his mother taught him, “I created dishes based on my recollections of watching her cook, imagining her in that café kitchen with me, telling me to add a few more red-pepper flakes or dial down the sesame oil.” This is very similar to me, I do not have a personal or cultural connection with food like Ahn and Nicholson did but rather my connection with food is through cooking. My father is an excellent cook and would always teach me tricks for cooking when I was young. To this day I find myself unknowingly using his advice in all of the things that I cook. My connection with food is more on a family level.