It is passed on...
I have been cooking dinner for my family for almost 30 years. I’ve made many varied dishes: spring rolls, tiger bread, sushi, leg of lamb, homemade mozzarella and a great deal more. Many of them at the request of my kids. This, of course, brings me great joy to provide food that not only nourishes the little buggers but also brings enjoyment to their lives (except maybe for the spring rolls).
Nevertheless, despite all of the excitement and fun I’ve had exploring new dishes, there’s been an unintended benefit to all this - my children have become good cooks! Apparently they were not deterred by my shouts and groans, my mishaps and failures in the kitchen. Instead, they’ve been inspired to try things themselves and at times, take over the reins for preparing dinner! As you can imagine, this brings me great delight - not only do I end up with some unexpected free time, but I find that my kids have surpassed me in many ways.
I doesn’t take a rocket scientist to project the effect this will have going forward - once my progeny bring some new sprouts into the world, one can see this pattern repeating itself - brining more new cooks into the world. And why not? My paternal grandfather was a chef and restaurant owner, my dad split the dinner making duties in my house and now here’s yours-truly cooking and writing a blog for ‘SingleParentChef’ with kids kicking butt and taking names in the kitchen. It follows.
Here I go, another day - a Saturday and I’m psyched to try out a new cookie press. With it there’ll be more shouts and mishaps and cooking shows blaring on the kitchen TV and some new morsels to share with the fam. I hope that they turn out well, that they’ll be gone quickly and maybe they’ll inspire my kids to try that press on their own.
Where does this all fit in our lives? Does it really makes a difference? The answer is most definitely yes! To my way of thinking, despite all we do to make a positive difference in the world - teaching, giving to charity, helping others, etc., perhaps passing on this legacy of cooking at home will have the greatest impact. I know it tastes good and is incredibly fun!
Mangiare!
SPC