What is important food? For me, it’s not only its taste that emphasizes the dish, but the most important thing that makes the food so significant is how we remember that food. I remember last November in Dtao Dam when Phra Ajahn was giving a Dhamma Talk. On that day, Phra Ajahn mentioned that baked beans is his favorite food, preffering it whenever he has to recover from a serious illness. He told a story of a time when he recovered from a bad case of dysentery in India when he was a teenager. He managed to find and eat the baked beans, bringing him back to his younger days in England and comforting him. Thus, I want to share two of my remarkable meals, breakfast and dinner, when I was in primary school.
An unforgettable breakfast from my childhood that is quite important for me is a unique coriander clear soup. The story behind this soup began on the day that I finished overnight scout camp in 5th grade. I felt a bit under the weather, so I spent all my day in bed. Once I got out of bed, my mother made me a bowl of Thai rice soup with shredded bitter melon and added a bit of coriander into it. I then suddenly felt in love with a piece of that coriander and asked her if she could make me only coriander soup for me. After that, she taught our cook its recipe. The recipe to make this clear soup is very simple: first, boil water with an onion and a few slices of carrot; then, add minced pork; finally, put lots of fresh coriander into it.
As a result, my cook made this clear soup for me every morning before going to school for the whole two years since I was in grade 5 to grade 6. Actually, my younger sister also had to eat this for her whole year as well. LMAO.
After finishing school in the afternoon, I had to have either special Math or English classes every day. Accordingly, the car became my restaurant. The food was served by my cook. Another one of my favorite foods is diced tomato with boiled shrimp dip or น้ำพริกกุ้ง in Thai. I remember that I ate this with rice while I was playing a computer game when I was at home. It was very filling. It also reminded me of the time that I had special classes, which I felt nothing but hatred for those classes. However, when I entered high school and got away from having special classes, I found that it was very helpful for me in math class. I then felt regret and thankful to my mom, who forced me to study there at that time.
Although those cuisines are uncomplicated, they don’t have such an exciting history as other foods, but they perfectly depict my ordinary childhood life. Even though I haven’t eaten those foods for a long time, when I reminisce of that food like writing this blog, I am still filled with a sense of nostalgia.
Comments