There are a lot of generalizations I can make about all the people I’ve come to call friends over the course of my last 39.5 years. But one thing that I can say, with almost certainty, is that oddly enough, pretty much none of them love cooking and think about food as much as I do. I have plenty of friends who cook out of necessity. I have friends who try new recipes when I use them because they don’t want the mental load of coming up with things on their own, so they use recipes or do dishes that I think are easy or tried-and-true hits. I also have friends who are either horrible cooks or leave all their cooking to their partners…. or just eat most of their meals at restaurants or via takeout/delivery.
Then I met this friend at a Hot Thai Kitchen event late in 2023, and I realized I had finally made a real life cooking friend. We hang out about once a month, and she is hardcore into all things health and wellness, including an extremely regimented exercise routine that includes heavy weight lifting, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (even competitions). She’s obsessed with food and cooking and loves shopping for produce and local, fresh ingredients. So after we met for lunch today, we strolled through the Union Square Greenmarket, and we browsed endless in-season, local fruits and vegetables. We pointed out things that looked really good or interesting. We touched and evaluated some really beautiful, fragrant herbs, tomatoes, and at least half a dozen different types of summer squash in sizes ranging from our thumbs to half the length of a baseball bat. My friend bought a large haul of three bags worth of fresh produce home.
And then something fun happened while we were there. She told me she had recently gotten really into kohlrabi, and I admitted that I had often thought about buying it, but I wasn’t sure what to do with it.
“Okay, well, we’re solving that problem today!” she exclaimed.
She bought four fat kohlrabi and set one aside for me, along with two ears of corn. She advised me to wash and peel it, then slice it thinly or across a mandoline, and dress it simply in white vinegar, high quality EVOO, and a little salt and pepper.
“It’s so simple and so good!” my friend insisted to me. She said it was a really good, healthy snack, and it didn’t take much for its full flavor to shine through.
And as this all unfolded and I neatly tucked my very first kohlrabi into my canvas bag along with my local ears of corn, I thought to myself… Wow. This was so much fun. This is what it’s like to have a friend who is super passionate about food and cooking, and what it’s like to go to a farmers’ market with her! She not only declared something is delicious that she loves, but once she heard I hadn’t eaten it, she bought it for me and instructed me on how to cook it. I need more people in my life like this!