Food and Friends: An Introduction
My name is Mary Peyton Sanford. I am a freshman in the College and, arguably more interesting, a new addition to the Penn Appétit blog staff. I decided I wanted to start blogging about food because it seems like the only thing that comes close to the enjoyment of cooking and consuming it. Food is one of life’s simple pleasures that can make all the difference in brightening a bad day. I began to see food as more than just a necessity for nutrition during high school when I realized that cooking felt good to me – even therapeutic in a way. There is something about toiling over a recipe, making sure the ingredients come together just right, that never fails to give me a rush of excitement and, paradoxically, relaxation. Cooking is methodical yet organic; recipes lay a foundation for a dish but always allow a little wiggle-room for creativity. The kind of creativity to which I am referring isn’t the kind that enables artists to paint or draw or sculpt beautiful works of art – I sure don’t have any of that. The kind of creativity we foodies have is one that spreads happiness via plates, bowls, spoons, and forks. Culinary creativity itself comes in many forms, ranging anywhere from elaborate to simple or from exotic to comforting. However, all of these forms of creativity converge on one goal: to make people, and their stomachs, happy.
Cooking gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment like no other endeavor. I love seeing how people react to my creations (at least when they turn out well…). Few things compare to the happiness I feel when the food I cook makes people smile. That’s why I will be using this column to write about the culinary adventures I take with my friends. Cooking is great but cooking with friends is even better. I have found that when I am cooking for my friends, I allow their preferences to inspire my creativity and challenge me to make something that will suit my taste buds as well as theirs. And often what results is something even more delicious than what I had initially planned.
When it comes to food, I like to play by three rules: keep it simple, keep it healthy, and make it scrumptious. It goes without saying that food should be enjoyed, not just eaten. I hope that the stories I plan to share on this column will convince whoever glances upon them that cooking can be more than just an obligation or a chore required by nature to keep us functioning. In fact, there have been several occasions on which the ability to enter a kitchen and just cook for a while has literally saved my sanity. Add some friendly company, and things just keep getting better.
To conclude this introduction, I hope that what you will find on my column may inspire you to go out and cook with your friends – to share some happiness and some creativity. Don’t worry, the hunt through FroGro for ingredients will surely be worth it. Finally, this simple analogy will illustrate the awesomeness of combining food and friends: if food is to chocolate as friends are to peanut butter, then cooking with friends is like the best Reese’s Cup ever.
— Mary Peyton Sanford