The social power of cooking

If I have to spot one element that truly characterizes the Irish spirit I would find it in their curiosity. It is not a noisy attitude towards life and people. No. It is a curiosity of a different kind: an open-minded unassuming approach to discover and embrace the beauty of the unknown.

This way I saw Dublin changing and growing so much during the years at so many different level as represented by its lively and intriguing food and wine scene. The Irish have been exposed to so many different influences and they took so much out of them that they managed to develop a great palate for food and wine second to none.

It is thanks to this beautiful intellectual curiosity that a refreshing new attitude towards cooking is spreading around. Cooking is not just a way of providing food but a rewarding social activity that brings family and friends together.

During the years I spent teaching at the Italian School of Cooking I have been always amazed by the social power of cooking. Before the class, all I can see are only basic ingredients on the cooking stations: it is an apparent state of tranquility ready to explode into laughter and flour. I see the students arriving and timidly interacting sipping a glass of wine. Then they go to the classroom and something changes. It is magical: people start to gel in a natural way since the preparation of the food is something deep rooted into human nature. It is a bonding moment, just like kneading, nobody can teach you how to do it, it is a personal experience: you let your hands go and all of a sudden you find yourself chatting to new friends almost looking in awe at your own hands working the dough. Something inside has been awakened and wants to express itself.

Cooking together makes the food taste better with a true sense of achievement transforming flour, oil and eggs into the perfect raviolo that you are biting right now.

All of a sudden I have a familiar memory of my granny teaching me a little trick or two but it is not Italy, it is Ireland with its magical curiosity.

And it feels like home.

Giuseppe Crupi

ITALIAN SCHOOL OF COOKING
Unit C4, City Link Business Park,
Old Naas Road – Dublin 12 – Ireland

December 13th, 2011 admin
Entry Filed under: Food and Drinks