Self Portrait Project — William: Website: A Family Cookbook

In my project I have created a website where I have placed the many favorite foods and recipes of my family. The reason why I chose this project is because I love cooking. All my life I've grown up surrounded by great cooks, from my family to the ones I've helped out to feed whole communities. These people have really helped me discover my true love for cooking. I also chose this project to show that even if you are intimidated by cooking, it is still definitely possible to make something beautiful with food. I love cooking because 1. it is extremely fun and 2. it really is the greatest feeling when you see people enjoying something that you've made. The reason why I chose favorites from my family is so that I could learn their opinions and views on food, and this really let me learn a part about them that we had never really talked about. I decided to make a website instead of a traditional cookbook so that it would be more accessible to all during these trying times and I wanted to really make something different. If you go to the website, you will see the pictures of the food, so that you will have an idea of what you're trying to make. I also placed these pictures to show that even me, a 13-year-old with a tiny kitchen and a whole lot of hours of cooking tutorials can make something delicious. As I began on this project late last year, I was honestly quite scared. I was just beginning to figure out all the meals I needed, and I didn’t have a single plan but then I got to work. I started cooking and writing. It was all going great until I remembered there was a deadline. In that short period, I had begun to panic, trying to make sure I had all the timing right, but then I began to plan out everything. Once I did, I had a good schedule that would let me relax and cook the needed meals. I loved making this project because I got to do something I really love and just the simple suspense of all of this added to the fun, for example seeing if the lamb came out properly cooked or making sure the corned beef was properly brined. I got to connect with a huge amount of my family by just learning what foods they liked and learning the stories of why they do. One story in particular was when my grandmother (Momo) and grandfather (Pop) had dinner with Pop’s parents (Paul and Eleanor). They had kidney soup and one joke that really stuck with my grandma was when Paul said Eleanor had to boil the piss out of the kidneys. I learned that sharing little food stories like this really connect people.

See his presentation: https://youtu.be/uMVdqyLrulc