I cant remember the exact moment when food became my love. The love affair could have started in my early teens (1990's) watching the PBS cooking shows such as Julia Child, Jeff Smith (Frugal Gourmet), Graham Kerr and Justin Wilson to name a few or could it have been when I received "Cajun Cuisine" by Beau Bayou Publishing Company (my first cookbook). I think it started way before that, it started in the kitchen of my Brooklyn apartment. My Mother, Grandmother and my Aunts are some of the best cooks I know. All of them born and raised in Haiti and moved to the states in the 1970's. My mothers loved to cook and were asked to cook often for gatherings. Some of the special request were griot (fried marinated pork), Lambi (creole conch), Pate (patties filled with ground beef or cod fish) and Diri Ak Djon-Djon (rice with black mushrooms) just to name a few. For Haitians feeding friends and family equates to Love. I can remember sitting in the kitchen watching them cook, asking for advice on how does this or that taste, if it needed more salt etc. I can remember the aromas and felt the love way down in my soul. When you go to sleep and wake up thinking about food you know your in love, as the saying goes "Don't marry someone you can live with, Marry someone you can't live without" by Dr. James C. Dobson. The marrying of my soul and food took place as naturally as grass is green. Cooking takes me to another place, it soothes my soul especially the smell of roasted garlic with olive oil. Just the simplicity of it brings me joy. The pleasure on the faces of my boys (my husband and 5 boys) when I cook for them is indescribable. Which brings me to this- There is no closer relationship than kin, and food plays a large part of defining family roles, rules and traditions. http://www.pbs.org/opb/meaningoffood/.
I believe that as long as I have breath that this relationship with food will sustain me.
This is my first ever blog hope you enjoy what I have written so far, there is more to come. I have scratched the surface of what the beginning of my blog will be about. I have to Honor my mothers (mother, grandmother and aunts) and share with you all they have taught me about the Haitian Cuisine.
