I love food

I love food. I love preparing it and eating it and gawking at it in grocery stores. I used to actually enjoy shopping trips as a kid because it meant I could explore the international foods aisle.

I love watching food on TV and have been doing so since long before the days of Food Network. I used to rush home from the bus stop just in time to catch the last 10 minutes of a now long forgotten cooking show on PBS. But now that Food Network is an option, it’s an obsession.

I avoid most processed pre-packaged foods and don’t eat any meat at all. Vegetarianism for me is a personal lifestyle preference and nothing more. Greater forces like religion and animal rights play no part in my daily choices about what to eat. Although I do recall an angry 4th-grade version of myself stomping up the stairs yelling, “This family has GOT to stop eating cows!”

I am not a chef nor am I trained in the culinary arts. I hate following recipes because I always forget to look at them. When I cook, it’s trial by error–and there is a lot of error. I’ve picked up some techniques by watching my mom, grandmothers, Emeril, Paula, Guy, Bobby, Giada and the rest of the Food Network gang, but overall it’s safe to say I am a novice. I don’t know everything–not even close–but who does?

And isn’t that the beauty of food? That no one really knows all there is to know nor has anyone tried everything there is to try, but it’s never too late to start.