Reflections on Inquiry Project

This is my final post about my Inquiry Project! I have quite enjoyed documenting the new meals I have experimented in creating. Having eaten the entire past year in The Cove at UVic, I took some inspiration from the meals I enjoyed and created my own with high-quality foods. I work at Whole Foods, so I am highly impacted by the philosophies that they emphasize there. I do believe that food should be a shared experience, and I really enjoy the fact that I can learn about food systems there and bring that back to my own kitchen when I prepare different dishes for myself, my friends, and my roommates. It is such a culturally-inspiring endeavour to create new dishes with the ingredients you have on hand. It is also very creatively fulfilling, and of course, it feels satisfying to find a concrete meal that you know is healthy and tasty that you can repeatedly eat.

Throughout my project, I have reflected on my experience being in my Home Economics Foods class in high school, where we cooked an array of dishes from different cuisines and I see how much the education I attained there has helped me make meals now. I find it surprising to this day how few people my age know how to cook well, especially when it comes to making well-rounded meals. I recognize that there are circumstances when someone does not have the equipment or the time to hone this skill, but I am not referring to them. I wonder about those who have the appliances and ingredients, but simply choose not to practice cooking even just to survive themselves. Hopefully, with this inquiry, people are able to find a few new dishes and are inspired to cook themselves in a way that works well for them.

Personally, I have grown up being surrounded by food because my family and culture prioritize this, but also because I understand that it is a shared labor of love. I distinctly remember going to the market with my grandmother who passed away in 2015 at 7 in the morning to buy fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, and seafood from the local street vendors in Taipei, Taiwan. This was such a vivid memory filled with love, and it allowed me to see how closely she interacted with them, having had such personal conversations. Another distinct food memory I have was after her funeral; my family and I drove up the mountain to visit her grave. After we offered our blessings and prayed for her, we returned to the car where we powered up our portable stove and made hotpot all together. It was a beautiful experience, and we know that she would have loved that we were sharing food together holding a space filled with laughter and smiles despite the grief we felt.