Knowing and cooking good food is a skill. A skill that you can learn with very little. Most of us are lucky enough to eat at least three times a day and that is three different opportunities to try something new. It won’t always be good but it will be something new and based on that, you can gauge what is good. With that you can learn about yourself, find happiness and even build a better life, all through the power of food.

‘Do you like it?’ is a big question in food. Then comes the, ‘why?’. When you start analyzing your meal, you slowly begin to figure out what you like and what you don’t like. Many of us don’t know who the hell we are. We live our whole lives going with the flow. Going to school, studying at university, getting a job, falling in love, buying a house then having a kid. Then at fifty-five, decide that half of it sucks. All because it is easy to fall in line and follow the pattern laid out in front of us. We didn’t really choose, just did what is expected. Food helped me find myself. I tasted something and decided for myself whether I liked it or not. People can tell me I am wrong, but they don’t have my tastebuds and I’ve decided to listen to my tastebuds over what other people were telling me. You can tell me what to do in my life, but you can not tell me what I am tasting. A good example of this is cilantro. I love cilantro. I think it is absolutely delicious, but there are some people who hate the taste. Now if I am eating tacos and you tell me it is disgusting because there is cilantro on top, I just feel bad for you because I know, without a doubt, those tacos will be absolutely scrumptious. Learn your tastes. Be open to suggestion, but decide for yourself.

Basically, food is how I discovered the world is subjective. I like the food I like because of the life I have lived. I revere french food because I was taught it is the epitome of fine dining. I love pizza because it has gotten me through some hard times and I am comforted by Caribbean food because that is what I grew up on. All choices based on the life I have lived. What you like tells me who you are and I enjoy getting to know that person over dinner. Loving a dish can be simultaneously right and wrong. Making beef bourguignon may be wrong if you are going to a vegan potluck, but incredibly right because, beef bourguignon is delicious. It all depends on the situation and the person. Again, learn what you like and just try to respect everyone else’s.

Furthermore, your eating habits tell me everything I need to know about you. That’s how you interact with the world. It isn’t politically correct to judge people anymore so by default I will go ahead and judge your eating habits or maybe I should say your dining habits. If we go to dinner and I see a trend of impolite behavior to the people serving you, I already know that you are the type of person who should never have power. If you order something, because you’ve never tried it and it sounds good, I know that we can party. If you order a filet mignon well done, I know you have no soul. It may seem arbitrary to some, but dining habits are a significant part of how I interact with the world and as a result, how I have learnt to read people.

Another reason I love food is its business potential. Watching my parents operate a restaurant for the majority of my life, I have learnt that knowing good food is a possible way to a better life. It will take a lot of work because, creating and knowing food is a lot of work but if you are willing to sweat, it is possible. It isn’t the only ingredient but it can be the start. The fact that you can still change your circumstance through simple skills derived from food is incredible. The food world has grown so much over the years that it is possible to break into the food industry in many different ways. You can be a producer, creating raw products for cooking, the traditional cook, making and selling food or even getting into the industry as a fan for instance, as a blogger. Right now the industry is quickly expanding, so the possibilities are endless.

It is also a gateway to happiness. You can literally hate everything about your life, but have joy in it for fifteen minutes while you appreciate the nourishment you are fortunate enough to have. We have all heard the cliche, don’t waste food because there are starving kids in Africa. It doesn’t need to be that specific. Right now, in this world there is someone who is hungry. You are fortunate enough to have food in front of you and whether you want to believe it or not, that is a gift. No matter what you are eating, if you are truly appreciative to have that food, then for at least a few minutes you will be happy. Gratitude is possible for anything. However, I think there are few things in this world more appreciated than good honest food.

These are just a few reasons, I love food. There is so much more to food’s immense power. It is easy to forget the many different facets of food. Just always try to remember…

Food is incredible.