How I Came to Love Spaghetti

Growing up in Jamaica, our meals always consisted of the traditional ones. You know, curry chicken, oxtails, stew chicken, curry goat, jerk chicken, rice and peas, fried plantains, Escovitch fish, bammy, fried festival and dumplings, ackee and saltfish, beef patties, boiled yam and bananas, and so much more. My family never veered too far from the norm. But then a move to the states changed everything...




I remember taking summer trips to visit relatives in the United States and feeling just amazed at all the variety of food that existed. I was in food heaven. Fast food restaurants were everywhere, and one of my favorite snacks, I discovered, was Doritos.  I loved these nacho cheese flavored tortilla chips so much, that I literally got sick after eating an entire bag of them. You see, after having the same foods, fruits and vegetables year after year...things were about to get really interesting. Really.

When my family eventually moved to Windsor, Connecticut, I was introduced to spaghetti and that's when my love affair with pasta began. I visited a friend's home, one day, after school, and I watched her as she prepared spaghetti and sauce. It was something she did all the time, and apparently this was her "after school" meal. She carefully added the spaghetti to a pot of boiling water and then heated the sauce in a little pan on the stove. It was rather a simple and easy thing to do. When she was finished, we both sat and ate, and I thought I had discovered something truly special, and most importantly, I knew I could do this myself at home. As you know, there's also an art to eating these tangled up, long noodles that take the taste of whatever savory sauce they're in. It can get messy and everywhere if not eaten the right way. Perhaps this is the reason I became instantly infatuated.

Now years later, my culinary skills in preparing spaghetti with sauce have evolved and become quite sophisticated since high school.  I love making dishes like shrimp scampi with linguine and also Fra Diavolo sauce.  Although, I don't remember the name of the girl who made me my very first plate of spaghetti, I will never forget that day after school sooo many years ago.  She also introduced me to Marshmallow Fluff, but I wasn't truly a fan.

And there you have it. How I came to love spaghetti.