Sophomore Jaylyn Shady has come to love cooking, from mixing ingredients together to sharing what she makes with others.
She cooks for herself and others to enjoy. When she cooks alone, she takes the time to be away from her thoughts and the stressors of everyday life, just letting herself focus on what she’s doing.
“When I cook I get in my own space, like a totally different area of my brain,” she said. “I shut out everything else. I’m not thinking of anything that isn’t what I’m cooking.”
She has had many interesting experiences with cooking.
“When I was like 11… I would be with a friend, we would make our own cooking show, and we’d have our parents try [the food],” she said. “They would be disgusted because it was random stuff, but it was really enjoyable.”
She also cooks with her friends, her parents and other family members.
“Me and my dad were making spaghetti, he say when the noodles were done you could pick them up and throw them at something and it would stick,” she said. ‘That’s what started to pique my interest in food.”
When she was around 6, Jaylyn was with her grandmother. When Shady was asked what she wanted for dinner, she said she wanted mac and cheese, and instead of making the boxed kind, her grandma made some from scratch.
“It was my first eye opener about how you can do so many things with food that isn’t just basic, how to steps,” she said.
There are also difficult things you have to think of when making food. Sometimes your own taste buds can cause issues with what you want to cook and what you want to use.
“Something could taste disgusting to you but beautiful to someone else, and it’s going to limit the things you use and what you cook.”
Cooking is also very rewarding, Shady loves not only enjoying what she makes herself, but she also loves sharing it with others.
“If you’re feeding other people the look of enjoyment is so very rewarding because you know someone else is enjoying something you made,” she said.