Shelby Neichoy

Texas

Being outside, smelling the fresh air and taking in the God’s creation, stirs a sense of freedom and imagination. For me, being in the kitchen, wooden spoon in hand, allows the same sense of inspiration and liberty.

Food is vitality. It offers us what we need to survive, both physically and spiritually. Biology has taught us that food gives us nourishment that helps support life, but for me, food’s most beautiful moments come in the form of spiritual comfort and fellowship.

Being raised in a Lebanese family, every gathering was a feast that was never taken lightly. Love was shown through food. My great-grandmother passed recipes to my Sitti (grandmother), who then passed them to my mother and finally my mother to me. The recipes have turned into heirlooms, connecting the past to the present. Each dish holds a story or a memory. Standing in the kitchen, the senses had to fight with one another like siblings fighting for their mother’s attention. Beautiful women chattered and laughed while making food that smelled so intense and lovely and felt as pure as heaven as it crossed the lips, finally delivering a taste of paradise. Food is vibrant. Whether in flavor, texture or smell, the adjectives, metaphors and similes one could use to describe the experience are endless.

As technology and science continue to progress, we are able to fill our needs and desires with less and less effort. In some ways, this helps society function at the high level we have become accustomed to. However, the more available things become, the more we take for granted. This causes us to lose some of the pleasure associated with the experience. In recent years though, many people have begun to rebel and turn back the clock. A growing number of people want to know where their food comes from and in some instances even play a part in its creation. A certain sense of pride swells up when you serve your family and friends vegetables cultivated from your own garden and livestock that you have raised. This feeling has all but been forgotten over the past few generations.

Rather than simply chronicling my personal thoughts and opinions, my goal for this blog is to provide valid, reliable and useful information, tips and interviews, while creating an open conversation, with YOU and all my readers. There are many blogs out there that produce excellent recipes, kitchen tips, lifestyle suggestions, etc. but do not include what I feel is the mo