My bedroom begins to illuminate with the light filtering in from our living area window. I wonder what the day holds; what will happen? who will I encounter? where will I go? what will I see? It has been a couple years of new experiences for me and I am usually excited to grab ahold of every opportunity and sensation that each day brings. But, I almost always begin in the market. It is a space in which I feel fully alive, comfortable and energised. Not a bad starting line for the day.
My neighbourhood market is full of excitement for me. Every week has a new product, I am always eager to find out what’s in season, what has been imported from other European countries, and what new fruit or vegetable can I try. Not everything is familiar to me, but then again some of what is familiar I cannot find. So I enjoy my animated game of charades with the vendors as I try to find out flavour profiles and preparation methods and particular cuts of meat. There are animal noises and touching particular parts of the my body as I try to describe, pork belly or cheeks, chicken thighs…I think you get the picture! But they must enjoy it too as we often conclude our encounters with giggles or laughter or sometimes just a shake of the head and I’m sure when my back is turned, an eyeball roll. My non-existent Hungarian language capabilities annoy me but I am rarely treated with anything other than kindness and generosity. Of course I have my favourite vendors, those who I know will help me find what I’m looking for, or who have consistent products, or whose personalities I really click with. And there are those I stay away from. My hand has been slapped when I mindlessly picked up a product to look at it for quality. I’ve been charged more than double what I should have been and I did not have the language to rebuke (after that encounter, my Spanish friend told me that shouting isn’t any particular language!).
I do not cook an elaborate meal every day. Somedays I just need joy, some days I need inspiration, and other days I just need a ritual to begin the day. If I’m off kilter it recalibrates me, if I am excited about the possibilities it inspires me, and if I have no plan it refocuses me. I am grounded by the necessity of food but ecstatic by the variety. It is so unnecessary to have so many varieties of radish and endless varieties of tomato, and varying levels of sugar in strawberries, and different colours of watermelon but what a joy! Sweet. Sour. Hot. Smoky. Stinky. Tangy. Crisp. Soft. Juicy. Velvety. And then there is subtle and shy, those lovely additions that make people go “Hmm, what is that?”. Food is so exciting!
There are times I wander giving thanks for the farmer and the vendors, but always it reconnects me to the land and I give thanks for creation. Since being in Hungary and restricted to travel within its borders, our jaunts surprise me with the richness of agriculture in this land. For this opportunity I am grateful.
Visual stimulation is the beginning of any creative process for me. As a young child I realised that I could experience the world through cookbooks. I had a better understanding of the land and the culture by reading recipes and if they had stories of people in them I considered them novels! Some people like to prepare for their travels by reading Lonely Planet, Rick Steves or Eyewitness Travel but I head to the cookbook section of our local library. There is so much to be learned by observing the kitchens of a country. In many ways I feel like I have been to countries I have never set foot in. It was a few years ago now, but I will never forget when the lifestyle section of The Calgary Herald,our local newspaper (remember those? actual paper copies, delivered to the door every morning!) had an article on a new cookbook that was just released. The featured recipe was chicken paprikas! I tried it and then promptly headed out to my neighbourhood bookstore. I was entranced as I curled up on the floor leaning against the bookshelf reading about the author’s Hungarian heritage and the recipes passed down to her through her family. Who would have thought that one day I would be here in her country, enjoying as many varieties of chicken paprikas as there are family kitchens, all similar but all different.
Spices, herbs and aromatics transport me to various places around the world. There are some products such as cauliflower which can be used as a canvas for many cuisines; Mexican, Greek, various Asian, various Middle Eastern or Indian cuisines. Fresh seafood is another canvas I love to play on. There is a time for simple oil, butter, salt and pepper, a fresh herb or two. Some produce is so exquisite and stunning on its own that anything more would be an assault. But, then there is also a place for a complex plethora of flavours – ginger, tamarind, mustard seed, sage, fenugreek, zatar, chilis, juniper, cumin, coriander, lime, galangal, turmeric, cardamom, peppercorns and on and on, because the star of the show is the land, the culture, combined together to create a symphony. Both methods of preparation provide me endless amounts of fun and creativity depending on whether I want to celebrate the beauty of an outstanding product or whether I want to feel the explosion of flavours and savour the dance that erupts when the magic of umami happens.
Cooking is like everything else. You learn the basic rules and theory and then you are able to tweak, substitute, and practice your skills to create something that is beautiful and uniquely yours.
Lael's Table 