Tastes of Home

Curry, Thai basil, the slight heat of chiles, Burmese tea…these are the tastes of home to me.  Whenever I eat food with these flavors, I am instantly transported to my favorite lands in southeast Asia.  Memories of color flood my mind as these flavors infiltrate my palate.  Thai and Burmese food are my comfort foods.  Ingesting them is not about feeling pleasure to escape a negative emotion.  Rather, imbibing on this cuisine is a way to recapture past goodness- memories of light and life and joy.  In doing so, I am reminded of the times when I have been most fulfilled and felt most fully alive.  

The cultures and countries that this particular food represents are the places where I feel most at home.  Eating basil chicken or drinking Burmese milk tea brings me back to a space of deep connection within myself and with others.  A sense of comradery is hidden in the tastes, as though every valued relationship I have is somehow unleashed through the experience of eating this particular food!  I am right back in places, spaces and relationships in my life that have been long gone for days, months and even years.  Yet, eating these foods gives me the gift of having them close again, making them real for me once more, as if a ghost had appeared from the shadows of my heart to sit with me in flesh and blood. 

There is no better way to experience a culture than through food.  One tastes the culture- the flavors, the spices, the particular preparations, even the labor and the cost of making local cuisine.  This is why I am drawn again and again to Thai and Burmese food.  They reawaken an experience of the cultures that I love the best.  They allow my heart to once again swim in the welcome waters of adventure, connection and LIFE that I find in these places. 

As a young person and even into my adult years, I often felt alone in my passion for particular places and people.  I yearned for others to share that passion.  I was overwhelmed in the best way when others began to.  I took teams of people to experience these far-off lands.  Together, we loved the region of southeast Asia.  Together, we served and learned.  Together, we TASTED.

Within these shared sensory experiences come a beautiful reawakening of hope. Sharing both the past and the anticipation of the future with beloved friends is a gift beyond words.  Food can help us to do this.

So you see, Tastes of home are so much more than experiences with food; They bring us closer to who we really are.