The Big Chop: My First Experience with Cooking

It all started with the sound of a knife hitting the cutting board. The hiss of the pan. The roar of the stove. Together, all these aspects make up what gets us through our everyday life. The process of turning raw ingredients to edible dishes is crucial to how human society develops and functions. Cooking is the art of all the senses and possibly the most important part of our lives. It’s been two years since I’ve started to cook, and it’s changed my life ever since.

In the fourth grade, on an ordinary day, I was flipping through the TV channels and I stumbled across MasterChef. After watching just 10 minutes, I was hooked. The thought of cooking food for others to enjoy was a thought that never crossed my mind until that day.

Ever since my interest and urge to be in the kitchen surged. I always found myself doing something in there, whether it was eating or watching my parents cook meals. But it wasn’t until my first year of middle school that I actually took the wheel and cooked a meal. 

During the first few days of being at a new school and not knowing anyone, I was struggled to find a place to fit in this new environment. One of the first projects I received was to create a small introduction video about myself, showcasing something I would like others to know about me. Being a sixth grader, desperate to make an impression, I decided that I was going to cook a full meal by myself, with no prior experience of how to use a knife or operate a stove. Despite always being in the kitchen, my parents never allowed me to touch such things as I was a complete klutz.

At first, my parents were against it but eventually, I was granted permission to start cooking. Every chop of the knife was a rush of dopamine—the experience felt like flying on Cloud 9. I loved every second of it, from almost cutting my finger off to nearly burning all the food, it was an exhilarating experience.

My final dish was a Mexican inspired beef burrito, and while it definitely wasn’t the greatest in terms of taste, it sparked the flame inside of me to continue cooking. I would continue to cook throughout the next two years, slowly working on my skills, to get to where I am today. 

These days, I’ll cook a meal every now and then, trying out new recipes in my spare time. Recently, I’ve started a passion project where I explore different cuisines to broaden my experiences and knowledge. To me, cooking is a comfort activity, something I can just relax and pour my feelings into. Cooking has impacted my life in a way I never could have imagined, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.