You Are What You Eat
- andreasachs1
- Aug 12
- 3 min read
By Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area
The irony is not lost on me! I have been obsessed with food since I was a kid. I was inspired by my mom who was a great cook and entertainer. She was ahead of her time. Back in the ‘50s, she would make chocolate leaves for cakes by painting melted chocolate on rose leaves, letting it harden, and peeling off the leaf. Voilà!
My favorite store that Mom took me to was called Kitchen Glamour. It was a fantastic kitchenware store in Detroit. Even then I would get all excited about the pots, pans, utensils, and gadgets that one used to prepare food. To this day, I seek out cookware stores wherever I travel. My fingers itch to get cooking.
If the adage “You are what you eat” is true, then I’m nothing for the time being, nada, zero. I haven’t eaten in over six weeks due to a medical condition. Think about it, no food or drink at all! When I was told by my doctor that I would be fed through a tube in my stomach for over two months, it was a punch in the gut, as it were.
Put me in a farmers‘ market or open food market and I really palpitate! Before I go to a new city, even in Europe, I find out when and where the farmers’ markets are located and make a point to check them out. My absolute favorite is the Borough Market in London. I had the good fortune to visit it with my sister, Marcia, and my cousin, Jeri, several years ago when we were breezing through London on our way back from Corfu. I think I literally sampled half the prepared foods there, from pastries to pizza to sausage rolls. Two bites and pass it on.
It is no wonder that I ended up in the food business. Having my own shops, Bonnie’s Patisserie and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering, for 30 years allowed me to inconspicuously be surrounded by food. It was of course “normal” to have all this food at my fingertips and be able to taste, talk about recipes and what would go with what. I was in heaven every day.
I really enjoyed buying produce in quantity. We would get a 10-pound box of cherries delivered, or flats of strawberries and I could have my fill. One of the most exciting deliveries was when we would get 500 pounds of chocolate dropped on our doorstep–ten boxes of 50-pound slabs of chocolate that had just been manufactured in Pennsylvania. Actually, most of the boxes were slabs, the rest were chips, chunks, unsweetened and white chocolate. The smell was intoxicating.
Now that I can’t eat, I literally ache for food. I yearn. I miss it. One thing I discovered during this period is how much time a day I spend either grocery shopping, planning what I’m going to make for dinner, prepping a meal, and actually eating and cleaning up. I have a great big void from my not partaking. Food has been my creative outlet my whole life.
Like I said, if you are what you eat, then I’m for the moment a non-starter. For everyone else, bon appétit!
Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.
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