Always remember to thank the chef.
Have you ever stopped to think of everything involved in the meals your mother or father prepares for you? Or perhaps you’re invited to a friend’s home for dinner in which you didn’t want to come empty handed so you brought a bottle of wine. Nice gesture of course but compared to what went into preparing that meal is it enough? At least you brought your friends some wine but what about mom?
I’ve been cooking for a pretty long time and it wasn’t until I had cooked for people who didn’t care what was served they just expected food to be on the table and it somehow magically appears did I come to the realization just how much my mother really loved us. Does this sound familiar? One likes chicken the other doesn’t. One wants it served over pasta another detests pasta. One would rather have it fried the other wants it with marinara sauce. Well, I guess when you don’t cook, you don’t have to buy the groceries, you have no concept of the time involved to not only prepare it but to actually plan it and make the time to get the groceries, you simply wouldn’t understand.
Which leads me to this, all my childhood life and even until now I never really thanked my mother for the endless meals she prepared every day while dad and I only harped when it would be done. And it wasn’t just breakfast, it was breakfast, lunch, dinner and some cake in between. It was school lunches and snacks when I arrived home. It was Christmas, Christmas Eve, New Years Eve and New Years Day. It was Easter, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day. It was days when she was sick, tired or simply had no desire to cook not to mention having to go buy them. The dishes alone were enough to make you just pack it in and say to hell with it. What about those countless meals after family funerals or returning from a trip to the hospital when the last thing anyone wants to do is cook? And not once do I ever recall her saying get it yourself, or I don’t feel like cooking. Yes, I feel pretty awful I never gave her the appreciation that she deserved for all those meals. Always thank the chef!!
I wonder if my passion for food and being a food lover revolves around my mothers love for us? Because clearly now that I love to cook like I love to breath have I come to realize that what goes into my cuisine is the love for others I’m serving it to. I am always hoping they will enjoy it. The planning, preparation, and the mess are all worth that little whisper…mmmmmm…this is so good. I’m sure I gave my mother a few of those but certainly not enough. A true food lover serves themselves last making sure that the people they are serving it to always receive the best piece and are served first. We take what is leftover not because we have to but because we want others to enjoy what we prepared. That was unquestionably my mother.
So next time your mother or father prepares a meal for you or you go to someone else’s home, always remember to thank the chef. It wasn’t just a meal prepared for them but it was a meal prepared especially for you, thank the chef!!
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