Basic

I remember being in high school and going to a friend's house to hang out. There was food - I think it was some kind of potluck but the specifics escape me now. One of my friends there whispered to me before we were getting food:

Don't eat what ****'s mom cooked. It's not good.

The dish was pointed out to me. As we piled food onto our plates, I took a bit of everything, including the dish my friend told me not to eat. After all, I was curious. How bad was this "not good" food? I ate the food on my plate and when I tried that specific dish, I remember thinking it wasn't bad. No, it wasn't restaurant food. It wasn't food to die for that I'd remember for years and years to come. But as a teenager who couldn't really cook for myself at the time, it was food I'd eat.

I grew up eating pretty plain food. I don't remember my mother being a fantastic cook. I don't actually think she was. I remember her cooking Chinese vegetables, spaghetti, sardines from a can, seaweed soup, peanut noodles, ramen noodles, something with hot dogs, tv dinners, and probably dumplings. My memory is definitely not complete, but this is the span of food I remember eating growing up. Compared to the dish made at my friend's house? Pretty consistent if you ask me. That's why I wasn't phased. 

I loved eating these "TV dinners" as they were called. I even remember the quintessential flattened look of the mashed potatoes from the plastic covering. This image is quite accurate when it came to the texture of the food. 

My friend wasn't a mean person, but he ate well. I have no doubt his mom cooked delicious food, perhaps even similar to what I cook now myself. I would assume he told me this about our friend because he felt like he was helping me avoid food he wouldn't eat himself. While kind in one sense, I think it slipped his mind that I grew up with food much more basic than him. I grew up with food just like the dish he told me to avoid.

My own cooking now is a luxury even to my own standards. I really hope my children don't grow up 20 years later and tell people all they remember eating is spaghetti, chicken nuggets, and dumplings. Unlucky for them, the internet exists and will continue to exist so there's a trail of proof as to how they ate as children in the year 2025. My kids eat everything on the spectrum from boxed macaroni and cheese to homemade dim sum. I wouldn't have it any other way because I want them to still appreciate simple food.