Victoria Boutin
Jesse Miller
Favorite Food Essay
20 February 2020
Famous Frittatas
The crust on my eyes slowly begin to break apart, the brisk air starts to flow, in through my nose and out through my mouth, and all the muscles throughout my body begin to receive oxygen and regain their tension. The blurry picture of the off-white popcorn ceiling slowly turned clear and reality slowly settles in. My mind launches into its wandering state and I rush into panic. “where am I, and why am I here?” My family huddles around me, and the wrinkles around their eyes and on their foreheads begin to diminish. The thoughts jumbled inside me are still lingering unanswered. I slowly turn to my side, crushing my right arm, and creating an intense sharp pain around my rib area. As the world around me steadily becomes clear, I begin to smell a mixture of foods. Not knowing the time of day, the place I’m in, or the people around me, this was the one thing that has stuck with me forever. Although this is a tragic experience, having a homecooked meal fed to me by family, while I was laying helpless in the sterile hospital bed was a memory I could never forget.
The creamy tinted yellow base layered with strips of red and green… my heart stops mid thought and my mind suddenly begins to wander again. It comes back to me. I am laying here helpless; no Christmas tree, no decorations to show my long day of hard work, and no presents under my tree. It’s the holidays and I’m I am stuck here, with my foot dangling in the air, speechless. Dry chalk covered my hands and legs, mascara dripped down my cheeks, grips still suffocating my fingers, and the leggings under my leotard were cut off in a diagonal line. It all begins to click. I’m experiencing a serious injury. Nothing I’ve ever been through before. Still in shock, I not only begin to smell the homecooked meal, but I hear it sizzling, cracking, and popping inside the old, rusted looking pan my grandmother handed down to our family. A plate rests on a side table and a yellow square with a confetti looking filling is sitting their throwing off steam. My mom had made it at home and made sure it was still warm for when she arrived at the hospital.
At this point the warm, soothing smell of this dish filled the room and my mouth was watering. I glance over at the plate teasing me on the side table and begin to think about my original thought. The creamy tinted yellow base, layered with strips of red and green peppers, chunks of a light pink ham, sizzling bacon, and topped off with another tinted yellow layer. This was my all-time favorite homemade dish. Frittatas! Although this injury, right around the holidays, wasn’t the easiest pill to swallow, having a homecooked meal, made and brought to me, with the addition of my supporting family, warmed my heart and allowed my body to become at ease.
Year after year my family continues to remake this unique dish. I know it means a lot to me and is by far, my favorite, but I wonder if this dish has any significance to other people in my family. I asked my mom what this dish meant to her and her response was eye opening. She responded with “I started making breakfast frittatas many years ago. I wanted an alternative to simple breakfast eggs. It was something my parents made for me growing up and there are so many different versions of this dish. No dish is the same and that’s what makes it so unique. Typically, when I make breakfast, it’s for the family, whether everyone is home from school, or a family holiday. The purpose of breakfast is to bring everyone together, sitting at the same table, able to look eye to eye and have conversations we may not always have on an everyday basis. This allows the few times we do get the chance, to be worthwhile and fun. We enjoy a nice morning meal on the weekend, usually before the holiday, and start the day off on the right foot.” This is exactly how I see it and I love the fact that it brings our hectic family together as one and allows us to take a deep breath and relax. We sometimes forget that we can put our lives on pause and evaluate all that we have in front of us, because at the end of the day, without all of their continuous support we wouldn’t be who we are today.
Whether thinking about dinner, breakfast, or lunch, family meals offer an opportunity for all family members to pass time enjoying each other’s company and good food. For many families, school, work schedules and extracurricular activities can make it difficult to find time to eat together. Mealtimes might be the only occasion many families get the chance to congregate as a unit. When talking about frittatas my mom explains that “It is by far one of my favorite meals. Not only because I love breakfast, but because I know that my whole family enjoys it, and I want to cook food everyone likes, all while allowing each and every one of us to sit down and relax together. This is something I had growing up and allowing myself to add my own unique touch and bring it into another generation warms my heart.” Family can introduce new foods accompanied by some of their favorites, sometimes even tracing back to their own grandparents. Trying new foods magnifies the experience, knowledge, and skills of the household members. The benefits of family meals go beyond nutrition. Yes, family meals are healthier, but they provide an occasion for household members to sit around the table, enjoy, relax, discuss and applaud themselves for preparing a meal that is delicious. My mom loves this meal herself but wouldn’t cook it only for that reason. I talked a lot with my mom about what she thinks this is a good fit for my family and I and she believes “I like frittatas because it can be different by simply changing any one ingredient, while still knowing it will be good! It’s also a healthy breakfast and is a mix of a lot of different breakfast foods we may eat separately but now combined into the same dish. It’s like a mashup of songs, but this time the music is replaced with food. Every day before school I used to make you scrambled eggs, toast, and chopped up potatoes. Add in some meat and greens, and now this dish allows you to get a little bit of all of that in one simple bite. Although we don’t have it very often, when the chance arises, each bite is savory and full of many different flavors that all combine to the perfect meal.”For many, family mealtime has been lost in our overscheduled lives, and coming together at least once a week with your favorite meal is very important. Although it doesn’t happen often in my family, there is a lot of memories that stand behind this dish most importantly every time we have it we are together as one. A family.
| 4 | Whole Eggs |
| 4 | Egg Whites |
| 2 tablespoons | Water |
| ½ cup | Seeded Tomatoes (Chopped) |
| 2 slices | Oscar Mayer Bacon (Cooked, Crumbled) |
| ½ cup | Honey cooked ham (Diced) |
| ¼ cup | Fresh Basil (Chopped) |
| 1 cup | Kraft 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (Divided) |
