Gastronomic Transformation

When I was a little girl, my culinary upbringing was similar to many in suburban families.  There were always home-cooked meals on the table, basics like chicken cutlets or ziti when my mother was cooking, more exotic fare such as spinach pies and baklava when my dad was in front of the oven.  Shaking up the routine of these wholesome dinners, there were plenty of Chef Boyardee nights, evenings where Rice-A-Roni whipped up in seconds from a box was the centerpiece and (shudder) the occasional  stop at Burger King elicited squeals of joy from me.  If you were to offer me, say, a fresh blackberry then, I would have shunned it, in favor of a handful of chocolate chip cookies.  Where my food came from never interested me; I just knew I was hungry and these options tasted good (or so I thought at the time) in all their processed, packaged bliss—and they were available.

My veil of gastronomic ignorance was lifted for me in college, when I discovered what I was missing out on.  Now, I would rack up my credit card bills to take my “poor” friends out to dinner just so I could experience a restaurant and the treasures featured on its menu.  Rapidly, I morphed from a finicky, sheltered eater to one who appreciated the nuances of flavor and texture. These days, my diet definitely still includes foods that aren’t the healthiest (I’ll never be able to pass up a milk shake or burger) but I now appreciate fresh, lovingly prepared dishes that rely on sustainable sources.   Through this blog, it is my intention to introduce you to some of the amazing people who revere food that’s good for both us and the environment.  These are folks who create dishes that taste delicious because of the quality ingredients they seek out.  Whether it’s a health food store in Queens, NY, that churns out made-to-order peanut butter, or a bakery in Colorado whose sourdough bread sings because of organic flour, I hope I can let you in on a few special places where food is an art, not a mere commodity.

Here’s to the bounty that awaits.