A food manifesto by Curious Appetite

My food manifesto:

I think one of the greatest aspect of the human experience is the ritual of cooking and eating and how it is an art form, to say the very least. And this discourse has been a curiosity of mine even before my undergraduate studies. Gastronomy reflects the core of our social animal. Food has set us apart from the rest of the creatures that co-exist on  this planet. Sitting together at the dinner table over homemade food and good wine is quite possibly one of the best gifts to the human experience. And this is one of the many reasons why I adore Italian food culture.

My life has been a gastronomic journey starting with culturally rich childhood memories including generous servings of rose scented bastani and observing my darling Persian grandmother in the kitchen concocting dried lemon saffron layered lamb stews beneath a backdrop of pomegranate trees. Not to mention warm blanketed, indulgent memories of my mother’s Sicilian (secret) family cannoli recipe and olive oil cake, to never-ending adventures as an adult living in various cities in Europe and observing food at its geopolitic/anthropological core.

My approach to food has been a very holistic one, and I completely subscribe to the food movement. Whether you call it the slow food movement, the organic, the farm-to-table…it’s just important that we all eat like we give a damn. We must preserve local food traditions in a way that demonstrates integrity towards our earth and our hardworking producers: Moms, Grandmas, Dads and Grandpas, farmers, fishermen, farm workers, bakers, cooks, BEES, goats, chickens, cows, soil, water, you name it. We must never forget what “heirloom” and “from scratch” means.

We can do this by mostly by choosing wisely where we put our food dollars and recognize the artists that toil endless hours in the kitchens whose end product, piled strategically on plates throughout the world, I hope to describe effectively.

In other words, I take food with a serious curiosity and so can you. 🙂