Why do I love to cook?

Everything about me says I shouldn’t. I’m a 28-year old man. I’m a bachelor. I’m a student. My parents come from a country where women cook while men work during the day and sit on their asses at night. I love sports. I play video games. How could I possibly be a “Foodie”?

It started when I was a child. My father was a San Francisco businessman while high aspirations for his children. So much so that he thought it would be a good idea to start bringing us to fancy restaurants at a young age not so much to show off wealth, but rather for me and my brother to learn what it’s like to eat in a place like that. At first, it was painstaking. The food took too long, it tasted funny, and we had to wear these stupid clothes JUST to get in. But as time went on, we caught on to the culture of food and its power to entertain, excite, inspire, and bring people together.

On the other end was my mother, a physician with the hidden fantasy of being a cook. So much so that she spends a lot of her spare time cooking and baking. Every now and then, I’d help her out and continued to learn until the day I could handle myself in the kitchen by the time I was a teenager.

As an impressionable young man with no game, several told me that the ability to cook and bake would make me desirable to women. Because of that, I got reasonably good at cooking and baking. I practiced, I tested, and kept at it until I mastered several dishes (I also learned to dance the same way, and for the same reasons). It has yet to yield results. Nevertheless, Randy Pausch once said that “experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” So I haven’t been on a date in forever, but at least I’m not living on McDonalds like many of my counterparts are.

Food is an art unlike others because it nourishes. Not everybody needs to look at paintings, listen to music, or dance the waltz. But sooner or later, everybody needs to eat. Because eating is such a central activity to our lives, we often gather around it. Think of every major celebration there is in life, and food plays a large role. From family dinners to weddings, charity fundraisers, sporting events, and political gatherings, food often plays a central role.

Good food, however, gets people talking. I love the way flavors dance on palates to the point where they become words out of a person’s mouth, or better yet, incomprehensible groans of pleasure and satisfaction (Mmmmm, Yummy, Ahhh). While it is one thing to experience great tastes, it is another to know that the great tastes your company experiences comes from the work of your own hands.

So that what cabinet is all about. To share food recipes, ideas, and experiences, while showing people how to make new ones. You are most certainly welcome to join me on the relentless search for flavor.