This is not a SFW instance. NSFW communities will be tagged, and efforts will be made to keep SFW communities clean, but proceed at your own comfort level.
It is a special thing to be skilled in the kitchen.
Whenever I get (genuine) compliments and appreciation for something I’ve turned out, my gut reaction is to go “hey, no problem, it’s whatever, nothing special – literally anyone can make it like this with really basic instructions and stuff – it’s easy!”
I always have to remind myself that, while I was raised with humility as a virtue, that’s not necessarily the whole story - that I took an interest in food very early, am going on two decades cooking most of my own meals, am always experimenting in the kitchen, hunting (literally, sometimes) for new ingredients, acquiring new equipment and techniques, just constantly deepening in this area. It connects me to my surroundings, my forebears, my own body, the land, and (while it confuses militant vegans everywhere when I express this) the animals who walk/swim/fly on that land, who nourish us in return for our stewardship. People are attracted to this even if they might not know what exactly it is. it’s ineffable, a thru-line all the way back to the heart of human-kind.
I have to remind myself that it’s not particularly normal to spend hours holding produce and reading labels whenever I find a cool new store. Or, for that matter, to spend five years of one’s life as a manager at an indie natural foods store with “immersion in the local food scene” as the primary goal. I didn’t give a flying fuck about our EBITDA on a given day, or how much cash was in your drawer that night, but I sure did pretend well enough.
Truth is, I just wanted to move myself up the literal food chain – quite literally lmao – to get closer to the source. I enjoyed knowing what was going on before your average Joe, knowing where the trends were going, where the struggles and opportunities lay, who the up and coming producers were. Going out to farms, and to meet vendors and get nerdy and technical with my people about something we were all passionate about. (I did also just need a job, tbf.) And, guess what, EBITDA was fucking great; exceeded expectations because people are moved by passion and will buy things.
If you’ve read this far, cheers. I didn’t, and don’t, do all that because of some ambition. I’m not a chef or a restauranteur or an influencer. I do not own a crunchy grocery store - I don’t even work at one anymore! I’m a simple nobody who knows the location of every single fruit and nut tree within a mile radius of where I live, and that’s how I prefer it, and it’s enough! And I love it when my wife asks for my cooking. Because it reminds me, yeah, I have put in the work, and it matters to people, and it’s good!
I used to think the foodie thing might be a phase - but it’s clearly not. I’m obsessed. I mean, we’re literally fucking made of food god dammit!
It is a special thing to be skilled in the kitchen.
Whenever I get (genuine) compliments and appreciation for something I’ve turned out, my gut reaction is to go “hey, no problem, it’s whatever, nothing special – literally anyone can make it like this with really basic instructions and stuff – it’s easy!”
I always have to remind myself that, while I was raised with humility as a virtue, that’s not necessarily the whole story - that I took an interest in food very early, am going on two decades cooking most of my own meals, am always experimenting in the kitchen, hunting (literally, sometimes) for new ingredients, acquiring new equipment and techniques, just constantly deepening in this area. It connects me to my surroundings, my forebears, my own body, the land, and (while it confuses militant vegans everywhere when I express this) the animals who walk/swim/fly on that land, who nourish us in return for our stewardship. People are attracted to this even if they might not know what exactly it is. it’s ineffable, a thru-line all the way back to the heart of human-kind.
I have to remind myself that it’s not particularly normal to spend hours holding produce and reading labels whenever I find a cool new store. Or, for that matter, to spend five years of one’s life as a manager at an indie natural foods store with “immersion in the local food scene” as the primary goal. I didn’t give a flying fuck about our EBITDA on a given day, or how much cash was in your drawer that night, but I sure did pretend well enough.
Truth is, I just wanted to move myself up the literal food chain – quite literally lmao – to get closer to the source. I enjoyed knowing what was going on before your average Joe, knowing where the trends were going, where the struggles and opportunities lay, who the up and coming producers were. Going out to farms, and to meet vendors and get nerdy and technical with my people about something we were all passionate about. (I did also just need a job, tbf.) And, guess what, EBITDA was fucking great; exceeded expectations because people are moved by passion and will buy things.
If you’ve read this far, cheers. I didn’t, and don’t, do all that because of some ambition. I’m not a chef or a restauranteur or an influencer. I do not own a crunchy grocery store - I don’t even work at one anymore! I’m a simple nobody who knows the location of every single fruit and nut tree within a mile radius of where I live, and that’s how I prefer it, and it’s enough! And I love it when my wife asks for my cooking. Because it reminds me, yeah, I have put in the work, and it matters to people, and it’s good!
I used to think the foodie thing might be a phase - but it’s clearly not. I’m obsessed. I mean, we’re literally fucking made of food god dammit!