Cooking Through It by Gabriella

Cooking Through It by Gabriella - November 2022 Scholarship Essay

After years of watching my Dad and Grandma cook, food has always been a fascination. Of course, I always wanted to help them by poorly chopping vegetables and putting sprinkles on cookies, but I could only make spaghetti and eggs by myself. Now that may sound like the work of a four-year old, but I was fourteen. It didn’t come naturally to me, and I didn’t put forth effort to improve until COVID-19 hit.
In my 7th grade Spanish Class, we did a project on countries where we had to bring food in to share with the class. One person brought a Spanish omelet, and I was hooked. I attempted to make it on my own for years, burning through cartons after cartons and potatoes after potatoes. Once COVID hit, I had had enough failures to know the tricks: use a large plate to flip it, use low heat and don’t forget about it, chop your ingredients evenly and small, whip the eggs until they’re frothy. I would spend the mornings making Spanish omelets for my family and I while on Zooms. Cooking became a time to relax and to try something new with nearly instant gratification with the bonus of developing a life skill.
During COVID I also learned about the wonders of Asian Food: Mochi, a sweet, sticky rice dough; bubble tea, a drink of some kind with tapioca pearls; and (Japanese inspired) Hawaiian Spam Musubi, sushi rice and teriyaki spam wrapped in Nori. Now I look forward to making my morning bubble tea while always trying different flavors. And when I’m stressed and have time, I’ll cook through it by making some Spam Musubi Tanago to gain some peace.
Cooking forces me to take time for myself where I can think about what needs to be done and reorganize my thoughts. It’s like when a computer has too many tabs, freezes, and needs to be rebooted. Cooking is my reboot, and I feel inspired to face the world afterwards.