oatmeal cookie recipe
Culture and baking
Culture is a mixture of the many habits we hold in our everyday lives, reflected also in the generations before us. A common denominator of all cultures in how humans present themselves through food. They tell stories about our natural endowments, beliefs, and our way of being.
With my family being Italian, cooking is a significant part of my own culture. I grew up seeing my family cook; my dad was always grilling typical Mediterranean dishes and my mom continuously prepared infamous Roman pasta dishes. Being born in Texas and having grown up in Canada, however, I vastly struggled in pinpointing a cuisine that best represented my own cultural mix. On one side I was greeted by a light and fresh based food group, appropriate for a warmer climate and a rich agricultural history. On the other, I was presented by the North American cookery defined by rich, heavy ingredients telling of the colder weather and a less agriculturally-based economy.
Something that I did know about myself was my love for baking and sweets; from a young age, I explored the possibilities. Nothing made me happier as a kid then spending time with my mom making my own small creations. Whilst spending last summer in Florida, I grew a strong craving for Publix’s (an American supermarket chain) oatmeal cookies. Having always been the baker in the family, I decided to spend a good amount of my quarantine experimenting to find that perfect oatmeal cookie recipe. Below is the result of the many hours spent in my kitchen, the best part of these cookies is that they are butter/dairy free!