If there is one thing that I make the most out of having a Netflix subscription is of their wide selection of documentaries- my favourite are those related to wildlife and environmental awareness; however, if I were to give out star stickers to my top 3 most enjoyed food documentaries, these would be:
1) Mind of a Chef, only season 1 (David Chang)
2) Chef's Table, season 4 (pastry)
3) For Grace
I make emphasis on Chef's Table season four because the child-like spirit that shines through the jolly eyes of these pastry chefs as they tell their stories-- is light-heartedly poetic and soothing, in such a way that they make me want to let out a sigh of relief (An 'I am not alone' kind of sigh) regarding a small concern I carry in the backburner my mind . See, I am in my early thirties yet my childlike nature is ever-so-present in my day to day: I still love a lot of the same things, with the same enthusiasm, as I did as a kid: trampolines, trees, tadpoles, cherry flavoured anything, dandelions, getting wet in the rain...
And sand or dirt.
My fondest childhood memory of sand took place in my friends Petty and Tony's enormous verandah. They had a wonderful pile of sand, enough for the three of us to bury ourselves and/or even make a life-sized jacuzzi. After an untimed afternoon of squirming around endlessly in the sand, as soon as we'd done washing, I remember their mom putting milky, cool, Nivea lotion on our arms and calves. Till this very day, the scent of Nivea lotion remains a synonym of playing in the sand to me.
With this being said, you must understand how delighted I was when I watched the episode dedicated to Jordi Roca, a Spanish pastry chef, born when his mama was in her mid-late forties, named World's Best Pastry Chef, who is as inventive as Dexter and as playful as Deedee (from the 90s cartoon show, Dexter's Laboratory).
The reason I made the aforementioned mini-recounter of my first relationship with sand is because I have a weird sensation in my bones that my affection towards sand is the same warm sweet-spot that soothed Jordi when he was inspired to make this mindblowing dessert that goes by the name of "Rainy Forest":
The reason I made the aforementioned mini-recounter of my first relationship with sand is because I have a weird sensation in my bones that my affection towards sand is the same warm sweet-spot that soothed Jordi when he was inspired to make this mindblowing dessert that goes by the name of "Rainy Forest":
Ingredients: dirt/sand (dirt: according to the episode; sand: according to [this] article by Business World Publishing, where I found the list of the rest of its components) distillate water, carob cookie, fir tree dust, anise ice cream, fennel and fir tree granite.
With the hopes of conveying the same cozy tenderness to you, my dear reader, I've transcribed the narration (the Roca brothers speaking) within the Chef's Table episode, that describes the razón de ser of Jordi Roca's Rainy Forest:
"We go and gather the dirt around there, because this is the
dirt that we used to play in as children.
Dirt appears in our cooking as a way to explain a feeling,
to describe nostalgia or melancholy.
We all have the aroma of moist earth in our memory.
All of us. From any culture.
That’s why this ingredient is so magical.
I always wanted to have a dish (...) that
connects me with that memory…
Of going back to a place that connects us all with our
origin.
It’s a trip to a forest where it had (sic) just rained.
Everyone has played with soil and accidentally eaten it, and
so the flavor is here in the hypothalamus, where the most primitive childhood
memories are.
(...)"
Feel free to share your childhood memories revolving around earthy scents, in the Comments Section below or by emailing me.
(...)"
Feel free to share your childhood memories revolving around earthy scents, in the Comments Section below or by emailing me.