Food Memoir

Here is a trailer for my food memoir!

I have a 20+ year age gap with them, so they’re usually out and about, living their own lives. When I was playing with Barbies in preschool, they were into partying at college. And in my awkward middle school braces phase they were professionally modeling or working on Wall Street. For this reason, I've never been super close to them because naturally, my interests have been very different from theirs. 

Now that years have passed and I’m almost an adult, my passions and perspective on life have deepened and shifted more towards my brothers’ tastes. In my first year of high school, I developed a passion for cooking and eating healthy. Meanwhile, the younger one of my two brothers, Andrew, had had an obscene obsession with clean eating for a few years prior. One day, my brother happened to stop over on his way home from a meeting just before dinnertime.

“You two should go out, it’ll be good sibling bonding time!” My mom proposed. She’d always feel bad that I was so distant with my siblings and will do anything to see us spend quality time together.

“Fine,” I responded.

“Mhm,” Andrew chimed in.

After browsing online for a restaurant long enough to make my stomach grumble, we found a small, vegan, and GF restaurant: Savor Pizza. 

After a silent car ride, we approach a small shopping plaza, and on the corner is a bright white sign with a cartoon tomato and the words “Savor Pizza” glaring back at us. We park right in front of the door, peering inside the tiny interior, absent of customers. Although we could sense each others’ shared nervousness, we decided to still walk in because our stomachs were aching for any type of food at this point. Behind the counter was a man in about his 50s, who was pretty fit and in tight workout clothes. Looking past him, we saw the glowing pizza ovens and freshly made crusts, and also the rest of his family: a wife, two toddlers with toys sprawled everywhere. We figured this was the owner, and he helped us decide on an almond crust plain cheese, a multigrain and flax crust with zucchini and pesto, and a broccoli crust topped with cheese and avocado. Peculiar selection, yet intriguing. 

After ordering, we took a seat outside. 

“So, how’s school going?” Andrew asks while we wait for our food.

“Good,” I reply with the classic not-wanting-to-explain response. Because really, does he really care how I’m doing in school or is he just trying to minor conversation?

“Sweet,” he replies. We then sit in a mix of silence and one word conversations for the next half hour while we both take turns eying the inside window to peek if our food is finally ready.

Then finally, like he was carrying the holy grail, was the owner with all three of our steaming hot pizzas. A rush of scents I couldn’t quite wrap my head around in the moment filled my nose with warmth, my mouth starting to water at the sight of melted cheese. As soon as the pies landed on our table, our hands shot out and we both grabbed the nearest slice of the broccoli crusted pizza; the burnt green edges giving it an enticing flair compared to the others that made it so irresistible.

When I bit into the slice, my teeth sank into the hearty base layered with the familiar sensation of melted cheese. I looked up, meeting my brother’s eyes and sharing a look of pure amazement. This was the first thing we’d ever really experienced together as siblings, and it felt nice to know that this was our thing. As I reached the end of my slice, the crunch of the crust folded beautifully in my hand as I swallowed the last of the broccoli and cheese crispy goodness. 

 The next two pies were as good as the first one: a seductive tang of pesto and the strong Italian seasoning from the other screamed as if to get our attention. While the conversation at the table was as minimal as before the food came, except this time it felt different. The shared chowing and sloppiness from the pizza brought a mutual understanding to each other; the shared passion for this healthy pizza unlocked a whole new realm of feelings and bonding than words alone could ever achieve.

Also, I noticed that when I was eating, while I normally feel lethargic and full from more than one slice of pizza, I felt super light and with enough energy to run a mile. That is why I love clean eating, and I understood why my brother was so passionate about it. You still get that same comfort food feel without the stomach cramps or lethargicness from regular foods.

For a few years after, my brother and I would make special trips to go to this healthy pizza place. Every time, we’d order three pizzas, catch up on each other’s lives, and marvel in awe of how healthy, but outstandingly delicious, the pies were. 

Now to get this straight, I still love a good old classic pizza. I honestly don’t think I could survive without a piping hot, melty cheese, regular slice once in a while, like how my brother said that “moderation is key” for everything that you eat, and as long as it fuels both your mind and body, then that’s all that matters. Healthy pizza has just become one of those types of pizza in my love that I enjoy just as much, and like to disperse in my normal pizza rotation.

 Just like how there are different types of pizzas in my life, there are different types of relationships that I have with the people I care about. Just because my relationship with my brothers doesn’t follow the ‘classic’ sibling relationship, just like healthy pizza is special in its own way, so is my relationship with my brothers. In a literal sense, healthy pizza broke the boundary of the closed walls between my brother an I. Since this initial outing, we’d learned to be youthful at family gatherings --making jokes or complaining to leave usually--  going out for monthly Savor Pizza runs, but most important of all I feel like I’ve gotten to know my brother and his values more than I seemed to overlook before.