Grand Buffet

Another beautiful day in the Hudson valley. Sometimes I just look around, point my face to the sun, and smile because why not? It's beautiful here. Today was one of those days though where it was particularly beautiful. Cool morning, kind sunlight, and sweet air at 6:30 a.m. as I walked to my Food Safety class. Then warmer sun and puffy clouds as I walked back to my room after lunch. It was the perfect day for running through the fountain on Anton Plaza which is exactly what one family did. I watched them and smiled because that's how family is supposed to be. Somehow it feels unfair to say that the weather today was one of my favorites, kinda like when teachers say they don't have a favorite student, but we all know they do. Out of all the other days, today was my one of my favorites.

Today was also my first college finals. Food Safety this morning and Gastronomy this afternoon. Both went well and I believe that is a testament to my professors who have put forth, in my opinion, a pleasantly unusual amount of effort to ensure that I was prepared for the tests. One piece of trite (but so, so true!) advice for college students: do the readings.

The class schedule here at the Culinary is a little weird... it has become normal to me, but I realize it's really not normal. Classes generally last for 3 weeks, 1 class at a time, sometimes 6 hours a day in the kitchen, for 3 weeks. What that also means is that students enter and graduate every 3 weeks. We have reached the end of a 3 week block so today was a graduation. As part of the commencement festivities, there is Grand Buffet which includes long tables of small portions of interesting foods, as well as a very impressive dessert spread in the dining hall. I was surprised tonight at dinner when my friend offered me foie gras on toast, and my stomach churned. I winced and politely refused. "It's soooo good," she urged. "It's so creamy, just try it!" No. Liver grossed me out and it wasn't until it was offered to me that I realized just how disgusted I was by it. Later, a man sitting at our table offered me chicken liver pâté. I was still grossed out by it, but figured I needed to try it. It's been a while since I've come across something I didn't want to try and I had forgotten just how uncomfortable it makes you feel. I went to the expansive bread selection, picked out a piece of my favorite crusty bread, and slathered the pâté and red wine braised onions on my perfect bread. I didn't really like it. But I ate it because I'm supposed to be training my palate (which includes eating new things, understanding proper use of salt, and appreciating the true flavor of food). I was challenged tonight in a way that hasn't happened in a while and it was a good experience. It also brought back memories of vocabulary from Gastronomy like commensality and aversion.

• Commensality is the magical bond that occurs when people share food. M.F.K. Fisher talks about it when she says, "Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly".
  
• Aversion refers to a settled dislike (Wasser)

I mention aversion for obvious reasons, I have an aversion to liver. I mention commensality because something really cool did unfold tonight at the dinner table. We got to talking about why I didn't like the liver, why my friend did, and the man who convinced me to eat it shared how and why he likes to eat it. We also talked about other things we didn't like eating and how things we originally hated, we now loved, like sushi and mushrooms. We came to the table strangers and left companions.

Thank you food for being magical, professors for being helpful, and Mother Nature for being beautiful. I love this place.