'Finding Comfort in Food'

Glanced at the email that came in and opened it up. Sounded like it deserved a proper read. It was from Life & Thyme, and carried senior editor Stef Ferrari’s introduction and summary of the weekend edition with the subject ‘Carrying On’. She referenced feelings about the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Music Festival shooting, and wrote,

And yes, eating can be a brief interlude from insanity; food has always had an element of escapism. But it's also been critical to communication, to collecting and connecting people in one place, to giving a reason to sit down and strategize. And it is still important for us to take care of ourselves and one another so we can continue to have the conversations that will help us illicit change. 

Real revolutions have been planned at cafés and around dinner tables throughout history. Let us not forget the strength we have in numbers—and one way to accumulate those numbers is to sit down, share a meal, inspire thought and exchange ideas.

It's a sobering introduction and a reminder that we don't live in a bubble where everyone shares the same opinions and feelings, or rationality. The magazine is fairly America-centric, but it tries to diversify its content and works with writers who actually can write, and know their stuff. This isn't about food reviews or fine dining. It's about honest-to-goodness foods we know.

We tend to sit down with people whose company we enjoy. In this format, we tend to be a little more forgiving about the quality of food on the table. We're lucky that Singapore offers many decent dining options, and even takeaway portions turn out well at potluck parties. Often, we treasure homecooked meals because those are prepped with sincerity and much effort.

I enjoy the stories Life & Thyme carries. Loads of good stories about great food from everywhere. I like to read about food when they're written like that. In this edition, there're many good articles, as usual. Deepi Ahluwalia's 'Bone Deep: East Meets West' talks about 'the fine line between appreciation and appropriation'. For someone like me who grew up in a multi-cultural family speaking a myriad of languages, the food I was fed with also came from a mixture of many cultures. I'm never very sure if I know the fine line, or what exactly others might perceive as 'appropriation'. But yes, when I cook, I seek to re-create the true flavors and understand the reason behind certain cooking methods. Once I understand the science, I can make the necessary tweaks to suit whatever my kitchen lacks.

Carolyn Phillips's 'Good Graces' talked about her Chinese mother-in-law who was visiting them at their Long Beach apartment in the autumn of 1978. She had invited her Chinese mother-in-law over just to feed her some homemade Northern Chinese dishes, instead of the Cantonese style dishes Los Angeles offered when her husband's clan gathers. I couldn't stop laughing. Finally, the mother-in-law opened up to her, and even to the husband (her son), about stories from her youth.

Nevertheless, I pester my husband for more clues, and one day he mentions the steamed little thimbles called chestnut wowotouer. When a tattered Chinese memoir tells me that such pastries had also been a favorite of the Dowager Empress Cixi, I can’t help but make a few inappropriate connections in my mind between the famed old lady who had once terrorized the Forbidden Palace and the one who is so nonchalantly intimidating me now. 

............... 

As she slows down, I realize from her story that she had never managed to leave China––and especially her hometown––behind. There was too much unsettled business back there in Tianjin that still had to be addressed, processed and perhaps even forgiven. And then by never bothering to learn to drive or speak much English or even make a friend or two here, she had managed to keep America a distant reality safely beyond her family’s walls. That is, at least until I came along. My defensiveness wanes as I no longer see her as my tormentor, but rather as someone who has simply turned her life in on itself.

Brooklyn Chef Hetty McKinnon shares her recipe for spinach and garlic chive dumplings in an essay titled 'Finding Comfort in Food', and tells her story of childhood memories and smells. I love dumplings. Except that I'm not a fan of meat dumplings. I love vegetarian dumplings. At some points, I might try out her recipe. She wrote,

Comfort food is not fancy or complicated. Its roots are humble, stemming from family and home. Across the world today, we see people on social media, and friends in the real world, turning to comfort food to heal pain—political or otherwise. Baking is on the rise, dinner parties have taken on new relevance, and the kitchen has become the small place in this vast world where we feel safest and most powerful. During hard times, food and memory become our sharpest weapon against isolation and affliction. Comfort food trumps all.