Rice and Chips & Queso
In my twenty-one years of existence, lots of things have changed – the people, the places, and the things—but one thing in my life has remained pretty constant. Rice. For as long as I remember, I don’t think there has been a significant amount of time when I didn’t eat rice.
I grew up eating Indian food and so much of Indian food is based around rice. I was eating a lot of home-cooked meals with lots of spices, lentils, and vegetables. Leftover dinner would usually be lunch the next day. In elementary school, I would have rice and some kind of vegetable for lunch. But all I wanted was something normal, so I would trade some of my food for something less exotic or just buy cafeteria pizza whenever I could.
I grew up eating Indian food and so much of Indian food is based around rice. I was eating a lot of home-cooked meals with lots of spices, lentils, and vegetables. Leftover dinner would usually be lunch the next day. In elementary school, I would have rice and some kind of vegetable for lunch. But all I wanted was something normal, so I would trade some of my food for something less exotic or just buy cafeteria pizza whenever I could.
My food choices changed drastically when I moved to Houston. I’d lived in a couple of places before, like California, Michigan and New Jersey but none of those places really had the impact that Houston had on me. At first, I hated Houston. It was so hot, there weren’t enough trees and some parts of Houston were not very pretty. But I think the biggest reason I hated Houston was because I had to move there right before my 10th birthday. I wouldn’t be able to have a birthday party because I didn’t know anyone and I had to now live in a state where all my California friends thought people rode horses to school. How embarrassing.
Thankfully, I got over it. Fried Oreos at the Rodeo definitely helped. High school was the time when I really started to explore different foods. Every time I would hang out with anyone, it always involved food. Lots of different, delicious food. Banh mi, Tex-Mex, kolaches, Blue Bell were among some of the things I discovered.
Thankfully, I got over it. Fried Oreos at the Rodeo definitely helped. High school was the time when I really started to explore different foods. Every time I would hang out with anyone, it always involved food. Lots of different, delicious food. Banh mi, Tex-Mex, kolaches, Blue Bell were among some of the things I discovered.
Houston gave me an outlet to different food and different places. There were so many options whenever I wanted to eat and they were so easy to get to. I was eating a lot but I was also learning a lot about food. I took a couple of classes on food, mostly for degree requirements but those ended up being my favorite classes. These past four years I was lucky enough to visit a couple of places around the world. I remember the things I saw and the people I met but I don’t think I’ll ever forget the food I ate. Whether it’s Haitian mangoes (which are the juiciest and most delicious fruit I’ve ever had) or the gelato I had every day when I was in Italy or even waiting 45 minutes for a chocolate chip cookie in New York City, these are some of the best memories I have of my trips. But if I’m ever away from home for a while, the thing I crave the most is the stuff I grew up eating – good ol’ rice and chips and queso.