A meal that I’ll always remember is one that I had at my soviet day-care for lunch. After nap time, they’d often serve us a dessert called Zapikanka, a Ukrainian cheesecake which consists of farmer’s cheese, pasta, eggs, sugar, as well as raisins or other fruit. It’d always make my day when I would peek into my daycare’s kitchen and smell the aroma of vanilla powder and pasta being baked. Once in a while my parents would make it at home too.
The meal that my mom would always make for me until this day is rice and ground beef mixed with vegetables all the time since I was little. She would make black beans with rice, yellow rice or brown rice. Always in that same rotation. She would also mix it up with either sweet plantain or tostones which would always add to the rice even more. She always added this sazon goya seasoning to the meat which made it taste that much better. She also got this cheese called Queso de hoja which she would always get when she went to the Dominican Republic from my aunt every year. I would always enjoy that on the side or as a snack because I always had it when my mom used to take me there almost every year when I was younger. Especially when it is deep fried it probably is one of the best snacks I’ve ever had. Even though my moms family didn’t have much over there they always showed me a good time and the food that they served was always good.
It’ll always get really cold around where I was from in China. We didn’t have heaters and sometimes even hot water isn’t readily accessible, so the only real way to keep ourselves warm was with a hot meal. The rice is steamed in a special ceramic pot, then the toppings are added when the rice is almost done cooking. Next to the main dish is an egg soup with pickled vegetables. It’s nothing too crazy but it’s definitely a comfort meal. It was pretty cold out recently as well so my mom decided to make it again. I helped her out with the meal preparations. Although we have heaters and hot water readily available now. Nothing compares to the warmth of taking that first bite.
This might be very basic but a meal that I always had in mind was egg fried rice, nothing crazy just scrambled eggs and rice mixed together with a savory taste. I remember when I was a kid I used to love egg fried rice, I was very picky and didn’t like any green onions or anything else besides eggs. I would come home every day from school and my parents would be out for work but my grandpa would be home. He would come downstairs to make egg-fried rice almost every day for me to eat and I would smell the burst of umami coming out of the kitchen making me salivate. It was the best fried rice that I’ve ever had. This particular dish is extremely significant to me because ever since I immigrated to America I have never had the chance to eat my grandpa’s egg fried rice anymore. We would face-time each other from time to time and he would always ask if I was going back to visit. I would always say when I go back I want to eat egg fried rice that my grandpa makes.
During my trip to Malaysia, I met my dad’s side of the family for the first time. We spent majority of the time eating together and experiencing the taste of real authentic Malaysian food. As we walked down the night markets to that were filled with stands selling street food, my stomach started to rumble. We spent countless hours sharing the experience of trying new food. The the smell of the fresh curry noddles and milk tea was what brought joy to me. Not only did I have the pleasure of visiting my relatives, I was able to connect with them through our cultures food.
The best type of food is where it is at a affordable rate while also filling you up for the day, one food comes to mind is maruchan soup. I am pretty sure one pack is worth 50 cents. In today’s word especially in New York, it is rare to see food that is less than 5 bucks. I remember when I was young and walking the supermarket halls and always see the 6 pack cup on the bottom shelf. My mother would always get it. Many years pasted by and till this day eat this before a long day.
During the summer my family and I would travel to Ecuador to visit my grandparents and my aunts. Whenever we did my aunts would cook cuy. It’s their way of greeting us because most of my family comes down to Cuenca to greet us and to catch up. Cuy is one of the many traditional foods in Ecuador and it’s normally served with rice, potatoes, and mote. Eating cuy in my family is normally for special occasions for example Christmas, birthday’s, and my family coming or leaving Ecuador. This year, I was able to eat cuy on my birthday and I was able to help my mom cook it and prepare it. So whenever I eat cuy it reminds me of family and the times I’ve spent with them.
A core memory I have that involves food would be my babysitter feeding me in pre-school. Everyday after school, the school bus would drop me off at her house while my mother worked. I have this one memory of me sitting in the living room watching a Barbie movie while she fed me; I’ve never had the biggest appetite so she had to get creative in order for me to eat. She use to separate the food on the plate, which was usually rice and beans, into little piles that we would dedicate to someone. There was one for my mom, one for my dad, one for my aunt, and so on. This actually really helped me eat and is something I continued to do whenever I needed to finish my food.
A memory of a recent past meal i had was when i was eating outside with friends. We went to hotpot. Hotpot is like everyone throwing in things in one boiling pot and then taking it out, putting it in you’re own dipping sauce. The most fun part of it is sharing the food and everyone sitting together like a warming gathering. I remeber we had a pot of tomato base and spicy base. I like cooking beef and noodles in the pot along with some vegetables. I love spicy so i cooked it in the spicy base. I remember it being really spicy that day but my sesame oil dipping eased it a lot. It was a friend’s birthday gathering and it was significant to me as we havent been able to gather with everyone in the friend group present in such a long time.
