My Connections With Food

Bill Schaff

Professor Leake

Writ 1133

March 31, 2013

Food and the Fire Department

Food for my family is much more than just food. It is a way for us all to get together when we normally don’t have time. It is a way for us the catch up on what is going on in each other’s lives. Mostly importantly, food serves as a way to feed my family. There are so many different types of foods that I associate with my family, weather it be Pop-tarts, my fathers fire alarm chicken, our my families steak sauce (Pop’s sauce). They all have very different meanings behind them but all of them associate to a specific experience with my family. Every time I see one of these foods the thought of my family making them appears in my head.

Starting off with Pop-tarts, this is not something I would think would have a connection with my family but ever since I was six there has been a specific event that always comes to mind. We were in Northport Michigan, where our lake house is, and it was just like any other morning. I had just got back from my day camp and was lying down on the sofa. Little did I know but my brother, who was 10 years old, was trying to cook his own Pop-tarts in the kitchen. I was only lying down for about 5 minutes when I smelled a scent of something burning. I could not figure out what it was and sure enough the fire alarm when off. Within 10 minutes there were two fire trucks outside responding to the fire alarm. After everything settled down I figured out that my brother had put a Pop-tart in the microwave for ten minutes and left the room. Then the fire department gave my brother, sister, and I a crash course in how to use the microwave so that this would not happen again. Now, every time I see or eat a Pop-tart I cannot help but think back to this event and laugh.

Next, my family has a secret steak sauce that we all love called Pop’s sauce. My grandfather, whom we called Pop, came up with this sauce but I’m convinced that the reason why it is secret is more because of how he made it rather than what is in it. My grandfather was always trying to invent new foods and sauces to call his own but many times he did not succeed and he did not succeed in an outstanding manner. When he was inventing this steak sauce, on the first try he actually managed to burn down his entire kitchen. Unfortunately for him this was not the only time he burned down the kitchen, it actually happened three times. Once was for the steak sauce, once was creating his own french fries, and once was developing his own stew recipe. Because of this, every time my father makes our family’s secret Pop’s sauce, my entire family thinks of how my grandfather burned down the kitchen developing it. The secret is more of how my grandfather made it rather than what is actually in it but never the less, we all love it because it tastes amazing and it brings back memories.

The last food that has a connection with me is my father’s fire alarm chicken. This chicken recipe got its name because of how it was made. Once again we were at my lake house in Northern Michigan and I was 14 years old. My father was making my family fried chicken but wanted to make it something special for us, which he definitely accomplished. The oven that my father was cooking the chicken in was brand new, my grandfather had just installed it earlier that week but apparently he forgot to connect the fan on the inside of the over. Without knowing this, my father put the chicken into the oven and let it cook. After about 15 minutes we checked on the chicken to see how it was coming along. Opening the oven door a plume of smoke poured out of the oven and set off the fire alarm that was directly above the oven. Every time we opened the oven, smoke poured out because the fan in the oven did not work. What I really remember from this was having to call the fire department every ten minutes and explain to them that we were cooking chicken and that the house was not on fire. Because of this the name fire alarm chicken stuck. Now, every time I eat or see chicken the thought of the fire alarm going off is all that comes into my mind. It reminds me of my family and how the chicken got its name.

For me, food is a way to connect with my family. Its not the food it self that I think of but rather how my family cooks the food. There are so many more ways that I can connect with food but when I think about it, Pop-tarts, Pop’s sauce, and fire alarm chicken are the main three that come to mind. The one thing that I have learned from my connections with food is that my family should not try to develop our own recipes. It seems like every time we do, in someway or another the fire department gets involved. All I know is that when I cooking for my family I’m going to stick to recipes that have already been made.