My Grandmother is one of the most important people in my life. I have a passion for cooking and I credit it all to her. She raised 9 children and fed them all with the food she could make from scratch, and what her and my Grandfather could grow on their farm. She taught me that there is more to food than just buying and eating it, cooking and eating can be a bonding experience, as well as a demonstration of love and compassion.
When I was 17, after my grandfather had passed away, I spent a month with her at their home in Newfoundland to help her out around the house. When their kids started to leave, they stopped growing as much food as they did and bought more from the stores, however there was still quite a bit of work to be done around the house and farm.
I remember one day I spent all afternoon in the hot sun working on the Property. I was watering and weeding the plants, and mowing the lawn. When I was finished I came in and my Grandmother had already made dinner, and it was on the table. I sat down to eat and I vividly remember this being one of the best things I had ever eaten. I asked my grandmother for the recipe, because this was around the time I had developed an interest in cooking. She laughed and let me know that it was a secret, but after enough begging she finally told me. “Besides some spices and vegetables I just dumped a can cream of mushroom soup on some pork chops and threw it in the oven” she said. We both laughed as I was shocked that something so simple could taste so good.
This is when she told me something that I would never forget, she said “It does not matter how much time you spend on something or what you make, what matters is if you put love into it. Someone you care about can always taste if there is love in a meal or not, that’s what makes it special, that’s what makes food taste good.” My grandmother is one of the kindest and most inspirational people I’ve ever met and is the reason I have such a passion for cooking.
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