A Map to Food

This is a map of my kitchen. Everyone who cooks needs a place to do so. My kitchen has all of the utensils, appliances, ingredients and space (however limited) I need to prepare delicious meals. I have tried to label as many important areas in my kitchen as possible.

Recipes & Ingredients - Lists

While cooking at home you first have to have a type of food you’d like to make – a list of food genres. Are you in the mood for Asian, Southern or Italian food? You have recipes, within that, a list of ingredients and then a list of measurements. [Only talk about ingredients at this point. Save measurements for later] Some of these ingredients are always there. Muffins will always have flour. Icing will always have sugar. Then there are the variations of ingredients, personal touches. There may be orange zest added to a cake or capers to a dish of pasta with lemon butter sauce. [Measurements] When the relaxing task of home cooking now has numbers and detailed lists added to it you realize the artist also has to be a mathematician. An interesting idea and almost hard to agree with, that the abstract can be combined with the concrete.

A Practice in Revision

This is some free writing I did on an oven - a necessary item for home cooking.

An oven - it's the meeting point for chefs and bakers. It's a necessity. Most often you can't make much without one. Sure, you could cook without one, but it's much easier to accomplish more with one. If you don't have one you could have a cold sandwich. But, where did the bread come from? Where was it baked? An oven. You could survive on raw vegetables, and they would be good and nutritious. But, just think how you could enhance them with the stovetop? Sauteed. Boiled. Set around a roast. To go above and beyond with food and its flavors an oven is a necessary item. It is a gateway. A bridge to aroma, to taste. When crossed it is delightful.

Here is my revision...

An oven - the meeting point for chefs and bakers. It's a necessity. Most often you can't make much without one. Sure you could still eat, but you can accomplish so much more if there's one in the room. You could make a cold sandwich, but where did the bread come from? Where was it baked? An oven. You could survive on raw vegetables and they would be good and nutritious. But, just think how you could enhance them with a stovetop? Sauteed, boiled, set around a roast, to go above and beyond with food and its flavors an oven is a necessary item. It is a gateway, a bridge to aroma and taste. And, when crossed it is delightful.

Home Cooking Artifacts: Buns in the Oven

Now, I won't say you need an oven for every part of cooking or baking, but it's safe to say most of the time it's a great assistant. That's why it's one of the main artifacts for my home cooking ethnography. If you want to get technical the stove top (cast iron skillet, spoon rest, kettle and hand towel included) are all helpful, if not sometimes necessary, additions to home cooking.

Fieldnotes: A Trip to Bongo Java

For my class time field notes I felt it was appropriate to visit Bongo Java. The people always seem to be talking about something interesting, not that eavesdropping is something I make a habit of. On this day I was allowed though.

I was surprised to find a quieter environment than I’m used to at Bongo. It seems like there’s usually a roar of movement going on, but on this particular afternoon it was more of a low hum.

I was intrigued by food, of course. There was only one raspberry bar left, so I bought it. Because of that I am now determined to make my own raspberry bar. After I got over the delight of the juicy, fruit filling I noticed I was also intrigued by the barista. She seemed angry, but I didn’t necessarily believe it to be the truth.

I was disturbed, only slightly, by a photo hanging on the wall. A man had painted an elephant’s nose on to his face. He posed with only this and suspenders on over his bare chest. It was somewhat odd. It made me wonder what the theme of the project was.