Food is an opportunity to create, experience, and share. I love each uniquely. For me, the creation process follows experiencing awe-filled dishes and wanting to share. Along the way, I have come to appreciate that everything begins, for me, with the experience of eating and savouring, especially when it is done with others who are going through the same process. I love a chef’s passion, creativity, and collaboration with the food at its best. Each bite is an insight into their attention to detail. In leveraging ingredients and seasoning, maestros take me to a place of imagination and possibilities. It is as if I am stepping into their experiences and passion.
The broccoli, bean curd sheet, and mushroom combination was exceptional. The texture contrasts drew my attention to the flavours. Each bite transported me to a place of serenity, exploding hope, and wonder. I came away inspired to remember and build on the experience. It was a voluntary response. I do not recall hearing this as a requirement. There was no obligation involved. I was gifted with an amazing dish. Sharing the experience and how it influences my cooking is the least I can do.
My suggestion is that sharing one’s experience is a natural outcome. One needs memories and emotions to share with conviction and belief. Without these, my sharing feels, to me, like a weak form of selling. The sharing can be in the form of a story, a way of listening, and, at times, an action with an outcome.
Intense experiences create a need within me to share. I love talking about food, life, and hope. When it is gifted to me, the impulse to gift grows, echoing one author’s rhetorical question. “Do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him.” (Hebrews 2.3)
The foundation of sharing is experience. This dish transported me to a better place. Today is an opportunity to gift and receive.
