Who inspired you the most regarding food and cooking?
I miss my grandparents so very much. They were so inspirational to me and encouraged me to cook. My grandpa was a cook in the Army and he would make the most amazing banana cream and coconut cream pies. One of my fondest memories is pickin' berries for pie with my Grandma...she'd let me make my own little pie. She was so adorable...when she exclaimed, "Oh that's the best pie I ever tasted!" I was hooked on cooking from that day forward. :))
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18 Comments:
Well, I understand ... I do miss my grandparents too ... :-)
Grandma Saeger and her sister, my mom's Aunt Fern, were of the breed that were constantly "serving", not even setting a place at the table for themselves because they'd never sit down anyway. They made the best countrified "home-town" food, which my mom and sisters can do quite well. For celebs, Graham Kerr's "Galloping Gourmet" was a show I never missed an episode of. When I was watching Food Network regularly 5 years ago or so, I actually woke my kids up at 7 a.m. one Saturday morning so they could see the show. I wish they'd show it again!
LunaPierCook at 10:06AM on 08/05/07
I have a few inspirations... and yes, it starts at early age with my step-grandmother. She never, ever, used recipes and could knock out the most amazing food -- color, texture and taste -- and she did it on a pauper's budget. It was remarkable enough to remember to this day, even though I've travelled quite a bit and have eaten some rather posh food.
Another was a cook at a summer camp -- he did breakfast and made the most amazing egg dishes on a commercial stove. Like cheffy's grandad, this man had been a cook in the Army.
After that, it was Jacque Pepin's public TV show in California that inspired me to buy my first English-language cookbook, "Today's Gourmet" in 1991.
Later, I had to live alone in England and was depressed by restaurants, cafes and fast food in the countryside due north of London, as well as the outrageous prices for their shite. To avoid starving, I had to get better at cooking. Through a combination of cookbooks and TV, I began to learn about texture, color, food combinations etc., and started making a catalog of meals I could manage to put together. At that time, British TV was reflecting a newfound awareness of good food, and the availability of reasonably fresh food (sushi turned up in Tesco's, for God's sake) as well as the appearance of sort of British Young Turks of cooking in mainstream media, all helped pump me up with energy for better home cooking.
Then I moved to Brussels and any reservations about what could be done at home were dissolved, almost at once, by the amazingly-high standards of cuisine in that underrated city. I wish I could remember the name of that Belgian chef who had the greatest cooking show I've ever seen. Everything -- EVERYTHING -- was done on a flat-surface cooktop that heated all pans and pots at the same temperature. The chef managed his courses all at the same temperature, which called for good discipline in putting out multiple dishes at the same time. I've wanted that stove ever since. The logic, the discipline that went behind understanding how all those ingredients could be put together in the end, at the same time, was the best lesson in how to cook I've come across.
TikiPundit at 10:48AM on 08/05/07
My Mother,........was such an awful cook,.....I swore when I grew up that I would eat nothing but great food for the rest of my life. And I have and still do endeavor to do just that!
Sue22 at 11:34AM on 08/05/07
My family consisted of good cooks, but none really inspired me. I learned basics, but not much more. I believe being exposed to really good restaurants made me want to be a really good cook, I was always trying to duplicate what I ate. Then I started collecting cookbooks. At first it was Julia Child,The NY Times cookbook, Emeril,Alfred Portale,etc. But I have to admit , the Barefoot Contessa books really made me confident in the kitchen. My collection has expanded quite a bit, but Ina Garten gave me the real tools I needed to expand my horizons. In the end though, I think what inspires the most is the fact that making good food for my friends and family makes me joyous.
Mich23 at 12:39PM on 08/05/07
Aww...somebody is an angel here whom fixed my messed up post! Thank you...whomever you are!
-And I love all of your stories you've shared thus far... Sue22, your story cracked me up so good! -Nothing worse than a mum who can't cook a can of soup even. rotfl! :))
One thing I also remember to this day is how wonderful it was to have BOTH sets of grandparents who kept vegetable gardens...my grandma would laugh when I'd ask for fresh, steamed spinach for breakfast...yeah, I was a weird kid. ;)
cheffy at 1:07PM on 08/05/07
The men in my life, starting with my father who encouraged the cowardly eater kid to try new things, and going on through several great ones (you know who you are...) to the guy who showed up at my door wearing a tuxedo and carrying a lobster under his arm, whom I eventually married.
The blessed MFK Fisher, for making me really think about what I was eating.
Julia Child, whose "From Julia's Kitchen" made me feel like even I could do something beyond Hamburger Helper and cake mix. .
Others, but those were the biggies.By the time I was 40, my mother was sitting at my table murmuring, "I don't know where you learned to cook like this." And it wasn't, thank goodness, a complaint.
lemons at 2:04PM on 08/05/07
Definitely my mom and dad -- they are "ok" cooks, but cultivated in me the desire to produce really good food. They have always been my biggest supporters -- even eating some truly awful food that I produced when I was like five or six years old...scrambled eggs with every spice in the cabinet, anyone?
I have also been watching food television since before it had its own network. Jeff Smith, Justin Wilson, Julia Child, Martin Yan -- they all had a huge impact on my early culinary education. Immediately after Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, the cooking shows would come on PBS and I was just as transfixed :-)
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 2:47PM on 08/05/07
RE: ProChef:
You are too sweet! Thank you for your kind and heart felt words. :)
Regarding what you mentioned...ahem, I wish I could say/admit I'm a Brooklyn borne...but alas, *heavy-sigh* I'm a crummy WA state borne...ugh...nothing to brag about here...if you want something ethnic or authentic you gotta learn to make it yourself here..I s'pose that's why I'm so good at cookin' cuz it was outta desperation.
I'm more than happy to be your 'new' friend though...(((HUG)))
cheffy at 5:38PM on 08/05/07
Mom was the biggest influence the earliest part of my life. Whenever we'd go out to eat somewhere, she'd ask me to taste the food and figure out what was in it. So she could make it at home and we didn't have to go out to eat. It was a pretty amazing day for me when I outtasted my mom one night at dinner. I still remember her saying, "Hey! You figured it out! Now let's go make it!" Till this day I make it a mental exercise to figure out the spices in something when I'm eating it.
Later it was my ex-wife who is Korean. She's found another flavor that she enjoys more and is gone from my life now. But she did expand my spice rack before she left! God bless her.
lysine at 7:46PM on 08/05/07
Regarding Moms...
I hope [and pray] that I have and WILL be a positive influence in my daughter's life...I hope I can one day be a wonderful grandma too. One of the most precious things my daughter told me was that she'd 'take me in' when I get on in years...talk about starting the waterworks! -And I'm still young even! Lol
My mommy was always so poor...we barely had much and one Christmas someone had left a big box of Christmas dinner on our porch...no name...just some good Samaritan...it still makes me a bit weepy to think of it to this day...I remember us looking through that box of goodies and 'whelping' with glee...
I remember my mom being happy and ashamed all at the same time...'happy' because someone had shown compassion and generosity to us and 'shame' that we were obviously so poor that she wasn't able to support us on her own in the way she truly wanted to.
All I can say is...if you give unto others...good can only come of it. :)
cheffy at 11:04PM on 08/05/07
Definitely my Mamma,she's a great cook.We didn't know we were poor because she was such a good money stretcher. She always had a vegetable garden and canned food for the winter. Looking back I don't know how she did it. We ate better than most people we knew, meat &2 or 3 veg almost every night,homade cakes or pies or pudding at least once a week, homebaked bread so good people would pay her to make it for them. She's my inspiration for sure, but I used to be afraid I couldn't measure up. Once I got over that I've been cooking ever since. I have my own style, but for some things Mamma's way is still the best.
peticook at 12:14AM on 08/06/07
My mom for sure. She was always down to make new things when I was a kid, though I didn't always appreciate it. Homemade cakes when other kids had box mix cakes was a drag, but now I know I was lucky. If we wanted sweets or cookies on non-birthday days, we had to bake them ourselves. My younger brother could make yeasted breads before he was 20 years old. She made everything from scratch and preserved her own jams/jellies, pickles, tomatoes, pears, wild mushrooms, clams, etc. -- whatever was in season and bountiful spent winters in jars. She's the same to this day, only too far away for me to benefit from it too often. Anyway, more and more, I take after her. Making food is an adventure, and I'm down for it.
kathy in oakland at 12:58AM on 08/06/07
I rode the same bus to Foodietiown that Sue22 did: "My Mother,........was such an awful cook,.....I swore when I grew up that I would eat nothing but great food for the rest of my life. And I have and still do endeavor to do just that!"
My mother and granbdmother were Irish. That meant pretty much boil it and make it gray. She would boil canned peas for 20 minutes. Lamb was only made into a lambstew that just reeked. Vegetables were always beyond soft. She and my father would make their version of beef chopsuey. Take the cheapest meat and trim absolutley nothing. Add Lachoy canned beansprouts and soy sauce and PRESSURE
COOK it.
She did make a helluva pie though and I don;t even try to match them.
CapeCodBob at 3:00AM on 08/06/07
My Mom was my main inspiration. Sheis an excellent meat and potatoes cook type of cook. But when Dad was out of town or not home for supper, she would experiment. I remember one time spending HOURS chopping food for a Chinese dinner. It was exhausting and we didn't eat until about 3 hours after our normal dinner time. But the food was a delicious revelation! What she taught me was to be fearless when trying new things. Now, my Dad's tastes have expanded and he and Mom are both good cooks.
Library Lady at 9:50AM on 08/06/07
My grandmother was my greatest inspiration. She didn't speak or read a lick of English but could pretty much reverse engineer any dish she saw on tv and make it for us. Looking back though, I was spoiled beyond belief with food , her traditional Cantonese and Vietnamese cooking was an everyday thing for us and I used to accompany her shopping in China town every Sunday for the entire day to get groceries for the week and chit chat with her friends. I remember making thousands of spring rolls over my lifetime with her, mmmm, they were so good.
kitchenlove at 2:26PM on 08/06/07
Definately my mom. She was so concerned about healthy eating that she forgot about taste. Since growing up and away from mom, I've learned to cook many dishes she didn't and also that spices and fresh herbs make all the difference. Even my mom enjoyed some the the entrees I've made for her.
Lavendergirl at 3:20PM on 08/06/07
re:LUNA PIER COOK--WOW are you from the south also ? I was married in the 60's. It made my husband so uncomfortable that Granny rarely sat down at the table. She would just have "a bit of dessert", which was served at every meal. Granny, my mother and daddy were excellent cooks. Back to my husband. He thought he was helping out with the dishes. Daddy caught him just as he was starting to use an SOS pad on his 16" cast iron skillet. The one that had been seas'n for 30 years. We use it now. He still tells that story, with a smile after 40 years.
canna at 10:32PM on 08/07/07
My mom was a good cook ... a really good cook. She wasn't an exceptionally experimental or avante garde cook, but when it came to comfort food, she was tops. When I was very young, she started teaching me how to cook. Her philosophy was that "My sons are not going to have to rely on any woman to provide for them."
She taught us how to cook, clean, sew, dust, do laundry ... everything we needed to be self sufficient.
As I was growing up, I watched Jeff Smith, Julia Child, Justin Wilson and Martin Yan like a previous commenter. I remember an apron Yan wore ... "50 ways to WOK your dog." Cracked me up!
I worked in many restaurants in my early years and learned much, but had it not been for my mom ... as my son just told me, we would be eating Ramen noodles today. Thanks mom.
TG
dukeofpornia at 8:03PM on 08/08/07