Food Healing | Away from home, the stomach misses the most

Last night, I dreamed of a vegetable market in my hometown. Dad drove to the vegetable market. He had to carry a lot of food in large and small bags. He slipped into the car and drove home. When he got home, he put down the bags and started working in the kitchen. I was excitedly waiting for the dishes in the living room, and I was about to beat gongs and drums to celebrate. But halfway through the dream, I suddenly realized that I was dreaming, and when I woke up, I could only swallow and continue to sleep.

I'm proud of my parents' good cooking skills. The home-cooked dishes I grew up eating were restaurant-level. Especially the dishes that my father cooks, it is much higher than the level of the average restaurant. My dad has a talent and passion for cooking. He went to a restaurant to eat new dishes, and after tasting them, he could figure out how to make them, and when he came home, he could basically recreate them. Coupled with some of his own little ideas, there are often surprises on the table at home.

Delicious dish, the taste should be a fusion. The ingredients and seasonings should be compatible, and the proportions of each seasoning should be correct. That's what my dad cooks. Because my father is good at craftsmanship, my house has always been a banquet center for friends and relatives. Even my friends like to come to my house for a meal, and after a good meal, they will bring up the dishes that my father made again for many years. A friend once said, "Your father has the ability to paint." I have always been very proud of my father's delicious cooking. For me, the best restaurant in the world is my home.

It's a pity that I'm far away from this "restaurant" now. My hometown is in Fujian, and when I went to university, I chose Shenyang, which is more than four hours away from Fujian by flight. The time spent at home during winter and summer vacations is about a month. I went for a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree for six years, and then went further to Germany to study for a Ph.D., and I had less time to go home. The home meal is one less meal, and the thought of being able to go home for dinner has long been over. Although in order to satisfy my craving for good food, I have practiced the ability to make good dishes in a foreign land. But every once in a while, there are still days when the food doesn't taste right.

It was uncomfortable to eat anything in those days, and nothing tasted what I wanted to eat. No matter how full you are, you still feel a little empty. When I sit down and think seriously, "what do you want to eat", the taste of hometown dishes comes to mind, smoked dried bamboo shoots, fried pork belly, steamed fish with distiller's grains, and salted fish and white kidney bean soup... all of them You can only think about what you can't eat outside. Homesickness is particularly specific, the taste of hometown dishes, the warm yellow lights in the house, and the atmosphere surrounding the kitchen and dining table. Thousands of miles away from home, the stomach misses the most.

It has been a year since I last came home. Last summer, I temporarily booked a flight home to stay for nearly a month. Eat with your belly open every day, five meals a day, morning and night without rest. Every time I eat a familiar taste, I high-five with my memory, "Ah, this is the same taste." It's a hometown flavor that I am familiar with but often out of reach. Now due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the flight prices between China and Germany are sky-high.