Food brings even the most unlikely people together. When I first entered this country, I was very picky about what I ate. The food here didn’t look appetizing to me, and I struggled to find Nigerian dishes. Eventually, I discovered a variety of tasty foods, like Asian, Mexican and Thai cuisine. My friends and I bonded over our shared love for exploring delicious delicacies from around the world. Some might find it strange to connect with others through food, but sharing recipes and food ideas is crucial. It helps us learn about each other’s cultures and build stronger connections.
One of the first things I did when I first got to this country was try to mix African and other countries’ cuisines. One of the recipes I tried was spaghetti and Nigerian stew sauce. Making the sauce was difficult since it was hard to get the ingredients in this country, but I tried it out by mixing some herbs. It turned out delicious and it’s still one of my favorite dishes to make today. I also make snacks by mixing random food items because it’s just fun to see what flavors click and which ones don’t.
The art of mixing food and flavors is how new recipes are created. Around the world, many talented professionals and amateur chefs create beautiful and tasty dishes by diving into rich and undiscovered spices. Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen is a perfect example of this. During certain episodes every season chefs have to create their dish to astonish the judges and show how talented and unique their cooking style is. An example of the greatness of mixing cuisine is found in an article written by David Bjorkgen, where “Two Delaware county businessmen have brought a new food combination to Springfield.” Their combo was a mixture of doughnuts and pizza, this may seem disgusting to others, but it was also a really creative dish that was a success in these businessmen’s careers. What some people dislike, others maybe 100% for one, so the idea of there being different combinations to acquire the taste that satisfies every individual craving is so nourishing. I believe because the world keeps evolving what we eat and how we perceive food will also change as time goes on.
I, for one, had to start from somewhere to acquire my great chef skills, if you count being a great chef by watching TikTok cooking videos and a bunch of cooking shows. The first time I watched “MasterChef USA,” I was taken aback by the beautiful foods and how the chefs were able to produce such tasty-looking delicacies with little time. I became obsessed with trying to achieve perfection, knowing I definitely couldn’t afford the ingredients to create those dishes. I was even about to beg my brothers for assistance but I soon remembered that getting their help was getting myself a one-way ticket to being their personal chef. So left with nothing but disappointment, I turned to the cooking videos I could find online. I can proudly say that those videos helped me discover what I loved to cook and how to make them at an easy and fast pace.
Social media might be a place to gossip and watch funny clips and memes, but it is also a very valuable tool for learning. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are places where simple people can learn how to cook little or big recipes before they branch out and start doing more of their cooking. Levels vary from easy to hard recipes on social media with steps to guide you to make a perfect dish. For me personally, sometimes I add or remove some ingredients based on what I like, which generates a more homely feeling. My favorite recipe from TikTok is called spicy rigatoni. This dish is composed of penne pasta, heavy cream, tomato paste, onions, garlic, and other ingredients. When I first made this dish there was an obvious error and I had to change some parts based on my tastebuds. For me to even discover the recipe there was someone on social media who decided to share their knowledge. There are millions of chefs on the web, both professional and amateur. In a 2023 report by Chicory, 72% of people prefer online cooking content to cookbooks according to Daily Press. Social media is where most people spend most of their free time anyway, so we all might as well just learn how to cook from what we watch. Getting a visual on what you are making and the steps it takes makes social media a good place to learn, considering how complicated some dishes are, and how fast it is to mess them up. The learning and teaching connect thousands of people who don’t know each other but have one thing in common, their love for food.
Making one’s food can be quite special. Take me for example, before I created my delicacy I was always getting takeout here and there, and it was destroying my health one takeout at a time. Attaining the skill of cooking was like coming home after being trapped out in the cold. Each food I make heals me mentally and physically, and it’s like they talk to me as I mash all the ingredients together, telling me which ones are good and bad. All of my bad history with food slowly got washed away as I got into my cooking. I mean I still do take out but I have more control now and I have to say that is an incredible feeling.
During the pandemic, millions of people had to resort to personal cooking because everything was shut down. Individuals making their food was one way to entertain themselves. Jaqueline Kot did an interview where one of the people shared their belief of how home cooking can have a positive impact on mental health as cooking engages the body and mind. Staying healthy, saving money, and getting more nutrients all contribute to the positives that come with producing your meal.
A good meal contains good ingredients that help our body to damage it. Our body lives and dies based on what we consume and most people who ignore this fact get serious diseases which lead to deaths. Poor diet leads to about 678,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, and if we look at the world number it will be bigger. Eating sweet and devious things may make us happy for a while but that is what hurts us and our body in the long run. The question everyone should be asking themselves when it comes to food choice is will this be good for me? Is there a healthy and tasty option? If the answer is yes (which it should always be because there are multiple kinds of delicious and healthy food out in the world), what exactly is stopping us from still being able to enjoy delicious food keeping our body safe from diseases and death? In the end, it is our lack of self-control that comes in the way of our safety but we as individuals should always take a good look into what we eat to ensure a safe and healthy life.
I give food four and a half stars.
