What comes to mind when you think about family? It can hold a different meaning depending on the individual. According to Chang-rae Lee, the essence of him feeling at home and family unity highly involved food. The closeness and contentment was experienced when his family was all together around the table to consume the exquisite food that had been prepared. His mother had been the sole preparer of meals most of his life. As a child, he had taken great pleasure in admiring and watching as she prepared the food in hopes to possess the ability of cooking as well as she did.
The mere subject of food was his mother's favorite subject; it was her passion in life. She possessed her own methods and techniques of preparing her native Korean cuisine, but she was not close minded to learning new dishes. She welcomed her neighbor to teach her on preparing "exotic American dishes" as well. Cooking was how she expressed her love, therefore, the family was joined together with her tasteful talents.
As his mother became ill with cancer, he resumed her household duties including preparing all the meals for the family. Ironically, his mother's cancer was in her stomach after all her years and love for cooking. She never lost her love for food even after she was unable to eat any longer as her cancer had progressed through its last stages. Chang-rae Lee was often monitored by his mother while preparing the food for the family and patiently accepted his mother's advice. After consuming the meal, his mother and him would discuss the outcome of the success of the meal. This communication was the core of their relationship; this is how they bonded and maintained their closeness until the end.
Hello Mandy! I really like the way you linked the mom’s love for cooking with the discussion of the dishes once she was sick. I believe you are completely right. Even though she wasn’t able to eat the food anymore, she still enjoyed talking about it and giving feedback on the son’s way of cooking.
ReplyDeleteMandy,
ReplyDeleteI did not think about the fact that the cancer was actually in her stomach. That's quite ironic considering her love for food. Life is very funny that way sometimes. I really liked the fact that she tried to continue to eat her son's food even though it must have been both painful and uncomfortable. When you're in that condition, I imagine it's a burden to even get up in the mornings let alone try to consume food.
This effort of her's really shows the love that she had for her son. She was willing to put herself through momentary pain just so that he could feel accomplished. Family is a great thing because you can expect your family members to go through thick and thin for you.