Bonded by Differences by A.D. Carty

A.D. Carty, has been writing unpublished and unedited for some period of time now. It has been my experiences that when he taps into his true emotions, subject matter pending, that the essence and beauty of his ideas come to life. I have sat and dine with this distinguished gentlemen, and he has shared with me this,

"I have ideas in my mind that I just can't get out, there is a lacking on my part through grammar, vocabulary, etc. that hinders me from fully expressing the depths of my ideas, the depths of my emotions. I feel limited by words, as I steadily seeking a proper outlet for my feelings".

Many including myself may not know what to make of this, but I can say, from knowing him, that our writer is intense, passionate, determined. For what? Success, wholeness, and establishing of oneself in God. A motivator, an adventurer, just a few other titles to describe A.D. Carty

"Bonded by Differences"

Upon looking at possible subjects for my next piece the idea had dawned on me then, and upon reading it came back to me that I should write about the biggest, most known unknown foodie that I could think of, my mom. I jumped at the opportunity to do a biography of my mother's cooking which I have experienced regularly, mostly and often. You will get to see her love for food and its infectiousness, her dreams, her tutelage, and tastes and you will get a glimpse of how she has influenced me and how I have taken those influences and made them my own, as I strive to be different. I hope to bring to you her sweetness, her experience, and what essentially makes Beulah, Beulah.

Brought up on primarily Jamaican cuisine, rice and peas, oxtails, brown stew fish, and many other things. My mother, Beulah, hasn’t changed much since her young age. While she has added many other foods to her favorites list the order remains the same. Learning to cook at a young age of nine, some of her memories of cooking and experience came by watching her own mother in the kitchen when available as she began to train to learn to cook herself. As she began to learn and broaden and expand her cooking skill set she became fond of cooking simple favorites like chicken and fish and trying them in different ways. While she her hard past, and childhood, which existed mostly in her days at school as her nights left her as a homemaker. She was left to be in charge many times by her mother of her two younger siblings, a hard task for any young nine year old.

All her food items to date were a progressive work towards her cooking skills. Turkey and ham for thanksgiving was something she had to become accustomed to making it because of meager financial beginnings during her childhood years. When I think of even her Italian cooking she does that different, dare I say ketchup for pasta sauce. It was her special touch, her way of doing something that made sense to her, and if it turned out not so bad, then that was a success. Before celebrity cooks exploded into entertainment she would watch Emeril for Italian cuisine inspirations. (Moore, Emeril Lagasse Biography - Celebrity Chef Bios, 2012) Most Italians would find such a choice as ketchup in pasta as an abomination to Italian cuisine. My mother is confident as she is stubborn in her ways. Receiving praises from her father and guidance from her mother, “Lawd that gal Beverly sure can cook”, is what she recalls her father saying in his broken English accent of patois or speaking Jamaican some would call it.” Of the not so bright childhood that she had, mom recalls small praises like this; they resonate big in her life and past. Her confidence was built up on memories like this, times of cooking whole meals in place of her mother's own knowing that her family would be satisfied. 

Memories of her mother doing daily work in the household of the upper-class and how her mother's style was developed there as she cooked and prepared meals for the employers. In a sense you can say that although she has her own style, this history is the background to of her current cooking. While most of the time the food her mother prepared for an employer wasn’t the food my mom cooked for the family she still learned from that how to cook those foods and would be able to apply them on her own at a later date. Along with Emeril she would frequently watch the excursions of Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel and his strange eats from all over the globe. (Moore, Anthony Bourdain Biography - Celebrity Chef Bio, 2012)

Being the younger of her two sons, I’ve had a slightly different relationship with my mom than my brother has. One would think that because of such that I would be a natural when it comes to cooking. Well guess again, my older brother took that prize. To be honest it is a toss up, she has shared more with me through my inquiring ways. I know about her experiences growing up, the pressure, burden, task, and joy she got out of receiving great responsibility as a child at a young age. As much as it was for her, she is thankful to God for bringing her through and even more so grateful she was able to learn more so from her experiences than to completely and out rightly resent them. My mother recalls my brother at a young age making eggs for the very first time. Still in Jamaica at the time she says she came home surprised to see him frying eggs to eat. Startled and in disbelief she questioned him on who taught him how to do such. He explained that he had watched her and in doing so knew how to do it simply from that. Mom also proclaimed that cooking was “born in him”, the love for it. Even until this day my brother is a pretty good cook and has much potential to be great. She feels that the love was in him, as he father loved to cook to, my brother was the product of food love. I was different. I learned to cook, slowly but surely and not just by watching (which I don’t find as effective), but by doing mostly. While being different and raised different my mom did her best in raising us. Something that she may not know is that my love for cooking is growing, steadily upon me, I feel. These days we usually butt heads in the kitchen I have developed somewhat of my own ways contrary to what she does. I am an adventurer and an explorer in the kitchen. I will try almost any and everything at least once. How I can find new creation and create new findings? I have learned from mom, but I have taken it and made it my own, I’ve gone left field with her teaching so to speak. I was able to learn from her and her styling up until this point she has years of experience that are notches in her hat, accomplished as a mother, provider, and a woman.  

The life of Beulah C. in cooking is not an easy one, but is full of warm memories. When I think about it, I realize that the only relation between the cited sources and my mother is the love for food and ability to cook. Outside of food and my mother's admiration for the men as cooks, they have a flourished upbringing of food. Always in an environment where food was being promoted or a priority, family owned restaurant, for example. My mother developed a love of food in a similar fashion pure repetition. Whether it be cooking the same food over and over, cooking the same food in a different ways or styles, or cooking different food. She enjoyed it all. I’ve truly enjoyed my mother's cooking over the years; I have missed it, especially in me not eating as often as I once did. When someone loves something they do and they do it often and are able to share it with others it is always a beautiful thing, self-expression I suppose.

 

Works Cited

1.    Emeril Lagasse Biography - Celebrity Chef Bios. (2012). Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from About.com Gourmet Food: http://gourmetfood.about.com/od/chefbiographie1/p/emerilbio.htm

2.    Moore, B. (2012). Anthony Bourdain Biography - Celebrity Chef Bio. Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from About.com Gourmet Food: http://gourmetfood.about.com/od/chefbiographie1/p/bourdainbio.htm