by Catherine Wright
My story about making memories in the kitchen began when I was a child. My grandfather was a cook in the Korean war and my own father had seriously considered becoming a chef before ultimately deciding on engineering for his career. My father‘s love of cooking did not go away, and he frequently cooked special meals with our family. I remember looking through cooking magazines and choosing recipes for big holiday meals – which resulted in many hours cooking together. A few meals he attempted stand out in my mind- he tried making homemade Asian food and I had my first exposure to wasabi- that was electrifying! We also made Pommes Anna- a French thin sliced layered potato dish – he did the slicing and we layered the potatoes in circles in a skillet, I remember thinking it looked so fancy because of all the layers. My mom is the baker of the family making breads and desserts for all occasions.
Being surrounded by grandparents and parents that loved cooking and used it as a bonding experience caused me and my two siblings to love cooking as well. We grew up experimenting in the kitchen making elaborate snacks as well as cooking a multi-course meal for our parents’ 25th anniversary- my first time attempting chocolate lava cake! This lifelong love of cooking and being together in the kitchen formed a bond between us that we have passed on to our children.
All eight of them have been in the kitchen from a young age. It usually started with them helping add ingredients or stir things and then quickly progressed to chopping and more complex tasks. In addition to the food traditions that we adults had, such as making special holiday meals and baking Christmas cookie trays to pass out to friends and family, the kids have put their own stamp on food traditions in our family. They make fancy charcuterie boards and fruit platters for special occasions and one year they even planned, prepped, and cooked all of the meals for a vacation up at a lake house.
In recent years, the cousins decided that they wanted to start making a meal from start to finish and serve it to the adults in our family. The first meal was an Italian meal they made for Christmas Dinner. Not only did they come up with the recipes, they prepped, cooked, and served them to us. They also made a menu for us to “order” from. We have been spoiled over the years by them making quite a few different meals for us. Not only Italian, but also Japanese and Somali, as well. Each time, as they’ve grown older, they have been able to add a new detail. Most recently they added curated music to listen to during the meal, as well as mocktails for us to order from.
Our family have many fond memories of food related activities, including ingredient taste test comparisons, trying out special restaurants on our travels, or just cooking together as a family. However, the main thing that cooking together brings is a way to bless others. Food is a common element that everyone needs, making it an easy way to help others. Some ways our family has enjoyed using our cooking skills is by volunteering in the church kitchen to help with a meal, bringing others a meal after having a baby or surgery, making food for youth activities, or having someone over who doesn’t have family in the area for a holiday meal .
Everyone enjoys someone making them food and having children be part of the process of being in the kitchen from a young age makes it second nature for them to use their cooking skills to spread God’s love to others as they grow older. So whether you love to cook intricate dinners or your best friend is the crockpot, I encourage you to embrace the joy of cooking with your kids (or grandkids). The memories you will make are, as they say, priceless.
Catherine is a child of God, married to her high school sweetheart for almost 26 years, mother to her two sons Caleb, 20, and Henry 17. She loves spending time with family, traveling, reading, doing jigsaw puzzles, and of course cooking in the kitchen with others. One of her favorite passages in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 – as it challenges her daily to try to truly love others following His example.