Food for thought

Project: Food Memoir

Food | Photography | Writing

Last year I took a class at my University about Asian American food, but through it I learned to appreciate the food of my own culture.

I love my mother's cooking, to me it's the absolute best and it's comforting, even when she's telling me to slow down and stop eating so much. It hurts, but the food helps me forgive. Just let me live!

So in that class, our final project was to write a food memoir, and I wrote mine while upset with the world and the men in my life. I plan to rewrite and revamp the memoir in the summer, when i'll hopefully be in Italy cooking alongside my Nonna. But for those curious to see what I wrote in my fit of rage, i've posted the Memoir to my blog.

Writing Preview:

Dolce far niente translates to "the sweetness of doing nothing," this concept, this way of living is why Italians are so very connected to their food, friends, and family. They know how to step out of the hurried mess that is now thought to be "living." We do not hurry through meals or try to "recreate" ourselves in the evenings or on weekends as Wendell Berry discusses in his article The Pleasures of Eating. In Italy, store owners close up during the day for pausa pranzo, meaning lunch time, usually between 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm. During this time shop owners and workers head home for lunch with their families. This was once practiced by all businesses, but now in major tourist cities and malls it would be impossible, or if anything unprofitable. But it is still practiced in many small towns, including Rivalta di Torino where my Nonna lives...

TO THE MEMOIR

Muffins