Great Food in the Kitchen: Bringing People and Cultures Together
While writing this month’s blog, I dove into a topic that’s a little bit different. This is not something I usually talk about but it’s truly a passion of mine:
FOOD
Cooking with friends or with family and loved ones brings us all together because we are able to share our culture and heritage through food and give each other nutrition and nourishment.
Coming together and sharing a meal is the most binding and communal thing in almost every city, country, and place in the world. Being able to make a dish and share that with the people you love is one of the most universal and unique concepts because it’s at the root of our survival. We all have to eat, and being able to learn how to make a recipe from your mother or father is one of the oldest and coolest traditions of mankind.
It feels really good to learn and hone in on a technique from your parents and pass it down to your kids. This idea of carrying on the legacy and sharing recipes that have been in my family for generations is something that is so incredibly special to me when I think about it. My parents have their parent's and grandparent's recipe books and cookbooks, which one day will be mine too.
Food is also a great vehicle for sharing culture with people from different backgrounds. Having lived in Philadelphia for the past five years now, I’ve come to appreciate food, meal prepping, going out to a nice restaurant, or even sharing meals at my house with friends or vice versa at friends' homes sharing meals with them. It makes you appreciate and cherish those moments when you know it takes time, energy, resources, and love into preparing, serving, enjoying, and even, digesting all of that good food!
This is what makes food so special, it is at the center of all cultures and family gatherings. We have some of our biggest moments in life either preparing or sharing a meal with others. One day I hope to share a meal with my readers and viewers here too!
Going a little further, I truly believe I got this culinary itch and love for food from my dad and his side of the family. Not to say I didn’t from my mom, my grandmother, or their side of the family, but it’s one of the biggest memories I have from my dad. Granted his background is in hotel/college/university restaurant food-management which spanned 40 plus years before his retirement at the end of 2019.
Also, his mother Margaret’s passion, desire, and her sweet tooth is something I’ve always adored for the beautiful grandparent I never received the honor of meeting because of her death due to breast cancer. From what I heard, she was one hell of a chef in the kitchen and the recipes she had for sweets, cookies, pastries, and desserts were heavenly!
With that being said, I believe a lot of this has rubbed off on me in all of the best ways possible. It took me a while to develop this love, passion, and appreciation of food but it was always there.
Can you tell we all enjoy great food, laughs, and experiences? And, more times than not, these are all brought together by food. Yum, yum, yum!
Enjoy these photos of meals I’ve made myself, meals I’ve had dining out in Philadelphia the past 5 years, meals I’ve had abroad while traveling in different countries in Europe, and all in all, fun times a many with my friends, partner-in-crime Lynn, parents, and many others!
My Very Best,
Donovan E. Vogel
