About Me:

One of the more vivid memories that I had as a child was one my first and one of the most impactful experiences with food. When I was 10 years old I never held much interest or curiosity towards food, but the day I heard we were having crab was when my attention was caught. It was because I was always a very curious child when I was young that wanted to look at everything and why something happened which made me interested on seeing how crab could be cooked. It was because of my energetic and curious nature which made introduced me to the deep culture of cuisine which was why this event had impacted me so much.

It was during the beginning of the day that my mother told me that we were going to have crab for tonight and brought me to the local supermarket to look for the ingredients and the crabs. As I was wandering the supermarket I could remember the strong fish smell coming the area where they held the fish in tanks to get the freshest fish possible and the chattering at the cash registers and lines. I remember my short attention span and impatience waiting in the super market because I found it boring and uninteresting. Looking back to when I was just a child wandering the supermarket made me realize how ignorant I was of the amount of dedication and time that you would often have to put in order to find just the perfect apple or the perfect crab. We finally picked out the crab which was rather large compared to the rest with a circle shell that had a blue and brownish tint that was squirming and constantly trying to escape. Once we finished all our daily errands and brought back our groceries and whatever we relaxed and began preparing dinner. As we were readying the meal I could still smell a strong fish smell leftover from the super market as the prepared crab was about to be dumped into a large metal pot with boiling water and steam coming out of it. As I could hear the sizzling and boiling sounds of the crab coming from the pot I was so excited because it would only be a moment until we would finally be having the crab.

When the crab was finally finished I could smell the fragrant aroma which filled the entire room while looking at the dish which was a boiled crab with assorted vegetables and sauce. As I had cracked open the shell I could feel its smooth and bumpy texture which also felt soft and easy to rip like cardboard. When I finally ate the crab I could feel its soft and tender texture which was accompanied by a sweet and almost buttery taste as I was listening to the crab’s shells being broken and meat being slurped. When I had finished tasting the crab I could not believe how delicious it was and the quality difference between home cooking and restaurant cooking which made me realize how home cooking can be superior to even the most luxurious of restaurants.

The next day I remember going to school excited and eager to boast to my friends that I had a delicious meal the previous day before as if it were one of my own triumphant achievements. This felt like an achievement to me because of how I had never realized how delicious food could really be and how it felt like I was missing out on many things and how your own cooking can be more delicious than food that you buy. It was after eating the crab that I often felt like I was a part of something and felt like I was a part of an inner circle that knew things nobody else knew giving me pride and confidence. This event influenced me to also start exploring different types of food rather than being fussy about food that I eat because it can taste delicious compared to its appearance because I was very picky about the types of food I ate when I was younger, such as not liking certain vegetables or new things.

The experience of when I was just 10 years old still influences me even now in a positive way because it helps me be more adventurous and try different types of food which even now still influences me. I became more adventurous with food because I was not much of a fan of seafood as a child, but eating the crab changed my view on all kinds of food unless it is too over the top for my standards, like insects and etc. This is an important memory because it helped me discover the culture of food and its complexity compared to how I used to imagine it being simply eating good food. This made me remember how impatient and I was when I would go help grocery shop with my mother and remember telling her to choose an ingredient faster because of my impatience, looking back now I realize that as a child I had never really payed attention to details and would try rush everything doing everything superficially. This experience stills makes me wonder how vast and complicated the culture of cuisine is and how I am still inexperienced, though I am more enthusiastic about looking at the details rather than simply skimming around and just skipping everything. The memory of eating the crab is something that even when I am older will still stay with me and always influence me.