Why do YOU cook, Monica Bhide?

I'm not sure there is a harder working food writer than Monica Bhide. She teaches, writes magazine articles, has a syndicated newspaper column called Seasonings, and has written several cookbooks including her most recent, Modern Spice. What I like about her writing is the personal stories and her enthusiasm for using different ingredients. She's also about as big a twitteraholic as I am. Not only do I learn something new when I read her stories, articles and tweets, but I enjoy the journey.

As a child, I always felt that I had trouble relating with the world. I always felt that I did not fit in the crowd and that I could not really "connect" with people. Then one day, I discovered what I did relate to: the kitchen. I would spend hours watching my parents and my grandparents and uncles and aunts cooking but never attempted to try it myself. I think I was about 8 or 9 when I began to cook. It was an experience unlike any other. I never felt awkward or out of place in the kitchen. I never thought of cooking as hard (unlike school work!). The kitchen made me feel at peace with myself. It was around the same time that I started writing... but all the writing was private. I never shared it with anyone.

But back to cooking: As a child, there were so many things I could not do. I did not know how to swim or ride a bike or be one with the in crowd. But I knew how to bring out the best in eggplant, i knew how to sizzle cumin just right to release it's flavor and aroma, i knew how to stuff an okra with a pungent spice mix, I knew how to simmer a deep and intensely flavored lamb curry. I would go to the farmers market and pick fruits and vegetables with my dad and learned how to tell good fish from bad. And then the magic happened: when I served the food to people, they liked it. It became the source of connection with friends and family and those who came to my table. I felt like I finally had made a connection. Years later, as I cook to care and nurture my family, my writing grew up. I heard from more and more people that they connected with my words and that made them want to cook my food.

I cook because it is who I am. Cooking, for me, is a away of nurturing those around me and sharing a part of me with them. My world of writing and food makes me feel like I belong in this world and that I have a purpose and that I matter and can make a difference.



Monica Bhide is the twentieth person profiled in this series. Read more profiles.

Why do YOU cook, Maria Speck?

I met Maria Speck, the Grain Gourmet on Twitter where her recipe tweets piqued my curiosity. She grew up in both Germany and Greece and shares her recipes and mostly Mediterranean techniques for cooking with whole grains in ways you might not expect. In her beautiful new cookbook, Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, you'll find cakes from quinoa and smoked trout, an easy crust from cooked polenta, a hearty frittata with wild rice and wheat berry "fool" with figs. Her recipes will surely broaden your horizons as much as they tempt your tastebuds.

It all started with a small bag of wheat berries someone handed me at a cemetery in Greece during a ceremony to mark the recent death of my grandfather. I was six years old and hungry. While I scooped up the mixture of cinnamon and cumin-scented grains, chewing on their succulent starchy centers, interspersed with chunks of roasted walnuts and sugarcoated almonds-I became completely oblivious to the crushing sadness all around me, and blissfully dug in. This culinary memory made me into the person I am today, in so many ways.

Years later a simple wheat berry salad, served to me by a friend in Germany, brought the grains of my childhood back to my table. At the time, I worked as a news agency journalist, subsisting on coffee and frozen pizza. Rediscovering the delicious chew of wheat berries made me realize what I was missing. From then on, I lit my stove and my oven with a passion otherwise reserved for boyfriends.

A few years later whole grains once more changed the path of my life. When I moved to the US in 1993 as a journalism fellow at Stanford university, I couldn't find what the German half of me calls “real bread.” Most stores sold soft, cotton-candy like bread or pre-sliced toast. Even when labeled whole grain, little did these products resemble the deliciously chewy, aromatic, and dense loaves of dark wheat and rye breads I was raised on. Eventually, I took fate into my own hands: I ordered a beautiful wooden German countertop grain mill and started baking whole grain bread from freshly ground flour. Which ultimately lead to my current career. As more and more Americans started to get interested in whole grains, I realized how much I really knew about them. I am writer and a passionate whole grain lover-so why not combine the two, I thought? Instead of reporting on technology, society and health, all I have done since is writing about whole grains. And cooking and baking with them. Naturally.

Why do YOU cook, Aleta Watson?

San Jose Mercury News readers will surely recognize the name Aleta Watson. Aleta is an award-winning reporter and restaurant reviewer who was on staff there for quite a while.

I'm always curious about what restaurant reviewers choose to cook at home. Thankfully Aleta has a gorgeous blog, Skillet Chronicles, that satisfies my curiosity while inspiring my own creativity. It turns out Aleta cooks the way I do and the same things that appeal to her generally appeal to me too. She is also a proponent of the joy one finds in the kitchen! Can I get an "amen"? If you enjoy my blog, I'm confident you will enjoy discovering hers too.

"The salty tang of preserved lemon in a chicken tagine. The deep savor of slow-cooked cassoulet. The sweet satisfaction of Sicilian cookies stuffed with ground figs and nuts. I cook because I’m a curious eater. I love to taste new foods, explore unfamiliar cooking techniques and share my finds.

When I was growing up, our family meals leaned heavily toward red meat, potatoes and frozen vegetables. Although my mother was a good cook, she stuck with what she knew. Not until I left home did I realize what a wide range of flavors the world had to offer.

A friend introduced me to Chinese food, Indian curries and “Joy of Cooking” and a lifelong love affair with pots and pans began. I reveled in the challenge and creativity of working with my hands in the kitchen after days toiling as a reporter and editor in Bay Area newsrooms. Trying out new recipes and feeding the results to family and friends became one of my favorite pastimes.

Even when I worked as a restaurant critic, I generally preferred cooking to eating out. The food served at most restaurants not only was disappointing but laden with salt and fat. My family ate better when we shopped for and prepared our own meals. We knew where our ingredients came from and the food was fresher, better tasting and more nutritious.

Now, I’m on a mission to help more people discover the pleasures of cooking for themselves and their families, using local ingredients in season. Everyone knows it’s good for the wallet, better for the body, and a boon for the planet. But too few people seem to realize how much fun it can be."

Why do YOU bake, Irvin Lin?

While Irvin Lin is a relative newcomer to food blogging, having launched Eat the Love earlier this year, he has quickly been embraced by bakers, cooks and food lovers. He's extremely talented as a baker, having won various competitions, including the Food Wars:Pie or Die, also this year. Lin does it all with a sense of joy and humor that is positively delicious.

"There is something slightly schizophrenic about being a home baker.

It’s a soothing zen-like solitary experience where precision measurements are needed to ensure a perfect end result. It’s a bit magical, when you put that batter or dough into the oven, at the correct temperature, and it comes out a baked good, something worthy of sharing with the people you love. Baking may be a lot of science (as well as a lot of art – don’t let anyone tell you any differently) but it’s also a magic that everyone can access. Few things in life create the warm happy feeling I get when I smell something baking in the oven.

But baking is also an act of social engagement, as all my baked goods are meant to be shared with friends, family and loved ones. I enjoy cooking, but to me, cooking is something I do to survive. Everyone needs to eat, and cooking is one of the ways that I provide sustenance to my body. But baking…baking is about pleasure. It’s about providing an experience to not only for yourself but for others as well. Cooking is a necessary. It’s a need. Baking is special. It’s a want.

I bake because I love to give joy to others. I love to watch other people eat. I love to watch their reactions when they take a bite of pie that I’ve made, or break off a piece of cookie and put it in their mouth. I love watching their eyes light up as they see the dessert placed in front of them. I love to see their eye roll to the back of their head as they savor that rich butter and sugar that I use in my sweet baked goods. I love hearing about how a specific dessert reminds them of their trip to France, or their wedding day, or of their childhood kitchen. I love talking to them about desserts and baked goods, because inevitably, every single person has a story about their favorite cookie, their favorite cake, and/or their favorite pie.

It is not everyday that people eat desserts. However, every time someone bakes, a normal occasion is turned into a special occasion. I strive to have as many special occasions as possible. I bake because baking is a way to connect with others. Baking is a joy. And we all need a little more joy in our lives."

Why do YOU cook, Dianne Jacob?

If you are a food blogger or an aspiring food writer, there is a good chance you know Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Reviews, Memoir, and More, now in it's second edition. She's an editor, a writer, a teacher, a cook and a coach. She has helped countless people get book deals and polished their writing. After meeting her at a book signing years ago, we've gotten to be friends and I've been lucky enough to share the stage with her at various conferences.

In addition to Will Write for Food she co-wrote Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas, and past work experience includes both newspaper and magazine editing. Her popular and provocative blog addresses food writing and blogging issues, but it doesn't answer the question--why does Dianne cook? So, I'm happy to give her that opportunity here.

"I’m a storyteller first, not a chef. As far as cooking goes, I’m just an enthusiastic home cook who makes food in a small kitchen with no Viking range, no Sub-Zero refrigerator, and without the countertop appliances I covet, such as a panini maker, rice cooker or slow cooker.

I started cooking as a teenager in high school. My mother got a job working evenings so she wasn’t home to make dinner for my dad, sister and me. She was an amazing ethnic cook but would not allow me in the kitchen because she said doing so would ruin the food. As the eldest daughter I was suddenly in charge of dinner and on my own, leafing through the Wednesday food section of the Vancouver Sun because we had no cookbooks.

That year I made dinner dishes foreign to our family, like red peppers stuffed with rice (tasteless), battered fried chicken (still bloody) and a frozen coffee dessert where I used coffee grounds instead of the specified amount of brewed coffee (inedible). My dad pretended he didn’t notice on all occasions, but was particularly miffed to not be served meat at every meal.

So began my culinary adventure. It has morphed over the years according to fads (crazy about Moroccan food currently), whatever I’m reading (usually from a stack of cookbooks next to my bed), and interest in my parents’ heritage cooking (Iraqi and Indian Jewish cuisine.)

I take inspiration from the farmer’s market, because I aspire to a mostly plant-based diet.
I love seeking out whatever’s in season, including produce I don’t know much about. It was only a few years ago that I discovered greens, and now they are common in my refrigerator. Other times I find produce that reminds me of home. My mother boiled fresh fava beans in salted water. I began with that simple preparation, but now I mash them with olive oil, fresh thyme and garlic, and spread the green paste on little toasts.

Today I cook because I prefer my own food. I didn’t think I would ever say that, because outside my house is much tastier and more complicated cooking, available for purchase. But my food is generally healthier than what’s served in restaurants, so on a daily basis, it’s better for me. And I like the transition from long hours at my desk to the kitchen, using muscle memory instead of my brain.

As a food writer, I cook to learn new techniques and to understand recipes, particularly when I am testing them for publication. Sometimes I cook to try new kinds of foods. I just bought my first bag of almond meal and have only made one baked item with it, a sensational apricot tart on the cover of Farmer's Market Desserts. I served it to my book group at the height of summer. That reminds me of another reason why I cook: to pamper people I adore.

My husband and I are both home during the day and we eat our meals together. I find it difficult get to the store sometimes – let alone restaurants -- so we are dependent on what I make. Right now I don’t have much other than raw produce waiting for me in the fridge, so I’d better get to work."

Why do YOU cook, Vanessa Barrington?

There are lots of books out right now about canning and preserving and making all kinds of things from scratch. So how is D.I.Y. Delicious. different? It's written by Vanessa Barrington, a talented cook and writer, who figured out how to make stuff on her own, in a real home kitchen. It's filled with recipes for everyday things you will get excited to make yourself when you see how easy most of the recipes are. Soon you'll be making mustard, yogurt, pickles, horchata, crackers and more.

The book also features recipes for using many of the things you'll learn to make. So after you learn to make Creme Fraiche (pg. 116) you can make Artichoke Soup with Creme Fraiche (pg.119). It also includes lots of cool ideas you probably haven't considered before like Savory Porridge with an egg and cheddar cheese or Pulled Pork Canapes with fig rosemary jam.

Vanessa Barrington is creative, socially conscious and just plain fun. She's a talented writer, recipe developer, and coincidentally a terrific conference roommate. So, why does she cook?

"The simplest answer is that I don’t know how NOT to. I feel more like myself in the kitchen than I do anywhere else. Sometimes it’s the only thing that makes any sense to me, especially during times of emotional upheaval, national strife, (elections/terrorist attacks/the televised aftermath of hurricanes) or on ordinary bad days. Even on a good day spent in front of my computer answering emails and writing all day, nothing feels so good as pulling out a cutting board and knife, and beginning the soothing work of chopping.

It wasn’t always like that. In fact, there have been periods in my life when I didn’t really like food. As a kid, I was a picky eater. I’d sit at the dinner table for hours, after everyone else went out to play, rather than eat the gray, overcooked pork chop and the canned peas on my plate.

When I started working in the restaurant business in my 20s, a whole new world opened up to me and I realized that I wasn’t really picky, just discerning. I started out by trying to recreate the dishes I served to customers. I had no idea of technique, but usually the results were somewhat ok. I was good at figuring things out. Eventually I taught myself how to cook.

These days, I’m not so much into restaurant food. Of course I go out and I do enjoy it. Occasionally I even have a meal that bowls me over. But what I like best is just poking around in the refrigerator, the garden, and the farmers’ market, figuring out what I want to eat, and then perhaps calling a friend to share it with me. I cook because I really like my own cooking and feel healthiest when I cook for myself. At the end of even the most delicious vacations, I can’t wait to get home and cook something simple to eat."

Why do YOU bake, Kate McDermott?

Photo credit: Kelly Cline
Let me just say I am in awe of bakers. And pie? That's like the holy grail. There are so many opportunities for failure and I have personally experienced most of them. Kate McDermott is not only a pie goddess, but on her blog, The Art of the Pie, she shares the secrets of pie baking in a way that makes you feel like you can do it too! She's encouraging, detailed, warm and wise. Some day I hope to be in Seattle to take one of her award-winning classes.

I love to bake and can't remember a time in my life I didn’t.  As a little girl, I took great delight in making mud-pies in the backyard. This may have been the first step on the path to becoming a pie maker.

I bake because I like to put simple ingredients in a beautiful bowl, turn them into something delicious, give it away and see the happy smile on someone else’s face. There’s nothing like sharing a freshly baked pie with friends and family.

I bake when I am happy and I bake when I am sad.

I bake because when life gives you lemons, it’s a good idea to make a Shaker lemon pie.

But most of all, I bake because it is a way for me to express love. 

This post is part of a series, to read the rest, click on the label marked "Why?"

Why do YOU cook, Andrea Nguyen?

Photo credit: Penny De Los Santos
Andrea Nguyen is a cookbook author who has demystified making Asian dumplings and recreating Vietnamese food in your own kitchen. Woven in between her recipes are stories about family, culture, traditions and faraway places. But aside from being such a talented author, it's great to spend time with Andrea. She exudes enthusiasm and positive energy. She also has a wonderful laugh and can talk about food for hours. Here are the 13 reasons why she cooks. I bet some of her reasons will ring true for you too...

My mother started me out cooking when she deemed me old enough to make rice for our family dinner. I was about 8 years old. By then, she and my father had observed that their chubby youngest daughter was an enthusiastic eater. Why not see if she can cook too? After all, it’s part of being a good, well-rounded super woman. My mother, now 75, is not only beautiful, but socially graceful. Her hair is constantly coifed, her nails are perfect (she does them herself), and her clothing is custom-made by her. She still cooks 99% of the meals that she and my dad eat. I don’t aspire to be my mother but she did get me on the road to cooking and seeded my culinary curiosity.

I’m a cookbook author, writer, and cooking teacher, not a chef. I feel awkward being called a chef because I don’t practice my craft in a restaurant. I describe myself as a ‘professional home cook’ as my workspace is a regular kitchen equipped with a modest Sears stove. I don’t put out food on an industrial scale and my adrenaline rush to ‘fire’ a dish and send it out to the table is because I want to sit down to eat with my family and friends.

Though I’ve cooked for decades, I don’t foresee myself stopping. Why continue to mince, simmer, sauté, grill, pound and clean up after myself? Here are a baker’s dozen reasons for why I cook:

1. I get hungry and eat three meals a day.

2. There are no Asian street vendors or noodle joints outside my door.

3. Homemade food is tastier than purchased food.

4. A meal you cook yourself costs less and you can freeze leftovers.

5. A pot of rice or pho makes the house smell nice.

6. You can dial in your personal food preferences when you cook for yourself.

7. When I eat a bad dish out, I feel compelled to make it up to my palate by preparing a better version of that dish at home.

8. To see if I can replicate a professional chef’s brilliance.

9. To get a feel for traditional foodways and experience an old-fashioned cook’s craft.

10. Repeatedly making the same recipes allows me to work through unfamiliar techniques.

11. The more I cook, the better I write better recipes.

12. To preserve cultural traditions, lest they disappear.

13. Cooking calms and centers me. I turn off Twitter.

Why Do YOU Cook? posts from food bloggers and cookbook authors:
Hank Shaw
Allen Williams
Eric Gower
Kalyn Denny
Garrett McCord
Carol Blymire
Sean Timblerlake & DPaul
Matthew Amster-Burton
Kamran Siddiqi
Susan Russo
Guy Prince
Allison Arevalo
Mary Ladd

...and on other blogs:
Judy Witts Francini
Michael Ruhlman

Why do YOU cook, Mary Ladd?

Photo credit: Mary Ladd

I first discovered Mary Ladd's writing on her blog Jalapeno Girl a few years ago. She was a cooking school graduate who wrote about spicy food and more. At that time she was doing some catering and shared the good, the bad, and the downright ugly about creating and serving meals on a large scale. I enjoyed reading her insider stories about parties of all kinds and her accounts of dining on offal with the likes of Anthony Bourdain. While not a category, I was struck by how often nudity factored into her catering gigs whether at a nightclub or the famous Bay to Breakers race.

Now Mary writes frequently for the SF Weekly food blog, SFoodie and always manages to stay on top of tasty local food and happenings.

"Many of my best memories are food related, so I guess I am trying to recreate that. I cook because it is a way to continue learning about food and culture. Many of the foods I favor today are not ones I grew up with. My folks are great cooks but it is Americana type cuisine, heavy on the (BBQ) meat and potatoes or other starch.

One friend showed me how to roll my scrambled eggs in seaweed, and I was hooked. I first ate kimchee with her. Another explained how many types of matzo balls there are and the ways her own Mother used to make them. Even if people aren't the greatest cooks, they can share the dishes they love with me, and I will usually think about these stories --and by extension, them--when I recreate the dishes in the kitchen. Because I tend to always be thinking about food and cooking, learning new dishes keeps things interesting. "

Why do YOU cook, Allison Arevalo?

Photo credit: Allison Arevalo
Have you discovered Local Lemons yet? Blogger Allison Arevalo is a New York transplant and perhaps that is why she embraces the local Bay Area food scene with such enthusiasm. She's been blogging less than a year, but her writing is already finding a home in print and beyond. She makes food that looks and sounds soul satisfying whether she's making Duck Fat Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Almonds and Cranberries or her own high caliber everything-from-scratch version of a Big Mac. Her food blog is focused on sustainable living but without a hint of attitude or fundamentalism. Plus you have to love it when she improves upon potato pancakes by adding Italian sausage and leeks and topping them with poached eggs!

"I never really thought about it. But now that you ask, it feels like hundreds of reasons are floating in my mind, justifying the insanely long hours I seem to spend in the kitchen. If I had to name a few, let’s start with these:

I cook because I love the feel of food in my hands. The smooth skin of kneaded dough, the beaded florets on a crown of broccoli, the sticky reside of chopped garlic cloves.

I cook because it makes me feel creative. Mashing spices, blending flavors, giving a traditional recipe my unique touch.

I cook because it’s my contribution. Something I can give my friends and family to enjoy, and hopefully put a smile on their face.

I cook because it comes naturally to me. And we all tend to gravitate toward innate talents or abilities.

I cook because it keeps me sane. The rituals of the kitchen help me unwind from a crazy day at work, or the two-hour traffic jam, or the bills on the counter.

I cook because it connects me with my past. I envision my great-grandmother, who taught me the value of fresh foods, preparing meals similar to mine when she was growing up in Italy.

I cook because chemicals, hormones and pesticides scare me. When I cook something myself, I know what I am eating and where it came from.

I cook because I think about food all day long. From the moment I open my eyes until my last bite of dinner, and if my day doesn’t involve something good to eat, it’s just not a good day."

But mainly, I cook because I love it, and because it makes me who I am."