I grew up in a busy household—five kids, two parents working full-time, and not nearly enough hours in the day. Our weeknight dinners were the greatest hits of American convenience: Tyson Chicken Breasts, Creamed Tuna on Toast , Hamburger Helper, whatever could be stretched to feed a crowd with minimal fuss. My parents were both great cooks, and I loved those occasional Sunday mornings when they had time to make something special. But, like a lot of families then (and now), most days were about getting something—anything—on the table.
The truth is, I didn’t grow up with a lot of “home cooking” in the nostalgic sense. There was no grandma stirring a pot of soup on the stove, passing down old family recipes from the Old Country. I didn’t have an aunt who could make pasta by feel or someone who could cook authentic Chinese or Italian dishes without ever glancing at a recipe card. Instead, I learned to cook in a way that’s probably familiar to a lot of people my age: I Googled it. If I craved asparagus, I’d search for asparagus soup, read a few recipes, and cobble together my own version from whatever sounded best.
That’s how I learned to cook—raised, you could say, on Google, with a pinch of curiosity and a healthy dose of trial and error.
And honestly, I think that’s an advantage. When you don’t have generations of tradition telling you how things have to be made, you get to decide for yourself. You have permission to play, to experiment, and to figure out what tastes best to you—not just what’s expected. In some ways, not being “trained” gives you more freedom to be creative, to adapt, and to develop flavors that are better suited to your own palate.
I cook because it’s empowering. Because even if you didn’t grow up in a family where cooking was a handed-down tradition, you can still be a great chef. You can start with curiosity, lean into experimentation, and end up with something completely your own. For me, that journey started with convenience foods and Google searches, and has grown into something much richer—something I get to share with you here.