I like to take my time, I don’t like rushing. When it comes to food, I like to taste every bite and enjoy the flavours.
For the first 23 years of my life, food was just food. It didn’t matter if it was a balanced or healthy meal, if it was good quality, or if it was freshly made. I suppose I ate because I was hungry, and I ate whatever was available to me. The food might have been great, but in general, I didn’t notice. The same applied to street food, I ate anything, and didn’t pay much attention to it. I clearly remember when my dad took me to a place to try cow’s brains. I thought they were disgusting, but I ate them, not taking the time to explore the flavour.
When I was 24 I discovered what we call the sazón. If you try to translate this into English, it will appear as “seasoning”, but sazón goes beyond seasoning. It means the absolute perfection of flavours. We say that it is a skill that your hand has; you don’t learn it, your hand has it. Those were the years when a memory of a fish floating in a pot, staring at me with a still eye, looking horrendous, transmuted into an experience of the most delicious fish broth, bursting in flavour. For years, I knew my places to go to and I was loyal to them. Always adding new ones, from the one-dollar street taco to the hundred-dollar meal.
Then, I moved to Australia.
I had to start again. I needed to learn what would become my new ways, navigating now amongst several cuisines. No street food around, so searching for the good sazón needed more planning and more money. It was here I learned to cook.
I have found new pleasures. From enjoying fish and chips wrapped in paper on a beach, to allowing triple-cream brie to melt in my mouth before sipping on a good shiraz. I have found my favourite place for beef carpaccio. I know now the store that sells the pork crackle I use to make tacos with guacamole. They also sell the dry chilies I need for other dishes. I recently discovered an Italian restaurant that it is just perfection. They take up to 40 minutes to bring out your food, but when they do, you are transported to heaven. I have found my favourite wood-oven pizza with double fior de latte. I know now that high tea exists, and I indulge myself in it. On a Sunday evening, there is nothing like a lamb roast with the proper veggies in my home. I always ask my partner to do the carving, thin and even.
Cuisines like languages, are intertwined. In this new experience, I surrender to the known and new flavours with humility, tirelessly searching for that perfection that imprints a memory not only on your palate, but in your soul.
Burnside Writers Group 