Everyday-Life Cooking

I still remember the first time I cooked in the restaurant that I was working in. I was very worried because I didn’t have the experience. I prepared the salad, mixed everything and made it presentable, and then I tasted it. Oh, wow, it tasted good! That was the first time I discovered that I can cook. I had been working in the restaurant since my first year in the University to help finance my studies. I started as a waiter and then after only one month, I was given the chance to be a cook when the assigned cook got sick, and I volunteered to be pan assistant cook because no one else wanted to. Thus, I started my journey into cooking.

Today, I am a student at IFFAsia, and I have a big responsibility to my classmates. My task is to prepare the menu and estimate how much we need to cook. I am very happy every time I cook and see the smile on their faces when they eat my food. Every time I cook, I remember my family, because I give joy to them. In my family, everybody cooks together and helps each other to prepare the food. After, all of us join to eat together. My mother motivates me to cook for each other. She said, “Learn how to cook and have more patience because wherever you go, people will LOVE you if you know how to cook and you know how to be a servant for food.” Yes, it is true that my skill in cooking helps so that others can build their trust in me.

Cooking is part of my life. Whether I feel happy or sad, I just cook. I want to make others happy through cooking; it defines my service to people. Since I am a flexible person, I act depending on my environment. My life is just like the food I cook. It will taste depending on how I want it to be; but it doesn’t always taste good. In life, I sometimes struggle and it doesn’t go my way; but I try to find ways to make it better.

In relation to God, cooking is an act of giving love. Every time someone cooks, his goal is to make another person happy. This is also one of the characteristics of God. He makes our life happy. Cooking is a way of sharing one’s talents with others; similarly, God shares himself with everyone through his son.

We can see God in our everyday life, no matter how ordinary it may be to others. So, if you want to eat, I can share my time with you and cook for you. 

Sonesacksith Solaphong (Baow)
(Baow, 25 years old, comes from Laos. He is a civil engineering graduate. Before coming to IFFAsia, he was serving actively in the youth ministry of his diocese.)