The OpenPlate Story
As a child, I remember waking up from a deep sleep, early in the morning. There’d be a light in the kitchen and my mum would be busy cooking for the day. Breakfast for three school kids, lunches packed, and ready for the day.
My dad traveled quite a bit. When he was home, he’d be up at 4AM, take a cold shower, then he’d cook for us all, from-scratch, fantastic breakfasts, lunches, and yes, plenty of coffee. By the time we’d wake up – by 7AM, my dad would have been done with is day, he’d be reading the papers while sipping on his black coffee.
It was a safe environment. We grow up with parents who loved to cook. It was never a chore.
Fast forward, now I’m the dad. And I find myself becoming my dad. Up at 4AM, “cooking up a storm” as my wife would say. Hot breakfasts, and yes. Plenty of coffee. All done by 7AM.
Then, we’d cook dinner in the evenings. This is a big deal. We can get carried away sometimes, biting off more than we can chew, but that’s the fun.
I see my father’s love of cooking for others in my daughter. She and I have taken over the kitchen in our home. It’s our thing. We plan, we shop, we try new foods, and we present it to my wife and son. Sometimes it’s great, some times it needs some work.
However, when we cook, we try to look for various regions in the world, to try something new. We try to find authentic recipes from that region and research it a bit. As we cook, we find music from that region. If it’s some sort of refined Italian, then it’s Italian jazz.
If it’s Mexican street food, then we’d find some Mariachi music. To make it extra fun, Mariachi covers of pop songs. If it’s something more refined, then we tweak our music and the ambience to enhance the food.
OpenPlate was birthed from this love of trying different foods. But also helping sustain the home chefs that are just doing life. Eating a good meal and enjoying a cultural experience feels a little better when you know you’ve directly helped the creator.
I hope you get to try new foods from various regions. Listen to new music, see, smell, taste, and listen. Most importantly, cook for your friends and family. Laugh, bond, talk. Eating is a powerful bonding experience.
What will you cook today?