Metaphor
We use many words in the kitchen. We all know metaphor from the world of books. Meta means with or among or after and phor comes from pherein meaning to bear or carry. A metaphor is the meaning of one object carried over to another object. And in the kitchen this happens whenever you cook. The action of cooking, the processes and labor involved in preparation is to bear the meaning. Espresso is a metaphor for coffee beans (which itself is a metaphor, the seed only looks like a bean.) To pull the handle down is to metaphorize the bean, to remove it from what it is into what it is you want it to be, mainly an espresso with crema that looks like froth on a good toasty porter.
The ethereal art of cooking is more important than the meal itself. To be the meaning, the life between the words is what induces addiction. The obsession of wanting that freedom, that unrestricted time is why you find yourself at the cutting board with an onion to caramelize. To cook is to be alive, is to be the philosopher or poet stoned on an idea. Every meal is new and nuanced. Cooking is the great verb. And so is life, it is the unborn being carried over and placed in the meaning of death. In an old sense, life is the water shouldered on the long walk from the well to the table.
-Carl Adamshick
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