SE1

Linxiao Fu

Instructor: Eric Leake

Writ-1133

3/29/2013

Seafood Means What to Me?

“What does the seafood exactly means to me?”, when I typed down this title, I ask myself. Honestly, I have never thought about the connection between food and culture before I took this class. For me, food was supposed to be a simple stuff to get energy; however, when thinking about the seafood again, especially after reading Nicholson’s article “Eating white” and Ahn’s “Home Run”, I began to realize that seafood has been playing a significant role in my life for almost two decades. Retrieving the seafood from my memory and concerning it with inquiry, I find out that seafood stands for diverse significances in different stages of my life.

When I was a little child, seafood represents my longing for the ocean’s fascination. I come from Zhoushan, an island in the southeast of China, and my hometown is the biggest fish port in this large country. Because of the special geographic location, I was closely related to the sea in my childhood. When I was about 5 years old, my parents started their new business, so that they did not have enough time to take care of me at that time. Same as millions of other Chinese children, I was sent to my Grandpa’s place, and was taken after by him. My grandpa was a fisherman, and he was really good at telling stories of his adventures in the sea to put me to sleep. At that time, I was curious about the special creatures in the sea that I have never seen even heard before, and wanted to have similar experiences like him. I could not imagine how awesome it is to stand on the deck against the railings, seeing the endless ocean and sunset. I had no idea about what is yacht, and the only way for I to go out is through my grandpa’s fishing boat. So I was indeed looking forward to go to for fishing with him. However, my grandpa refused to take me, because he thought it was too dangerous. Then, I became addicted to the seafood, and told my grandpa that I wanted to have seafood every meal. In fact, I did not know why I did that; maybe I simply believe that seafood could connect me to the ocean, so that I can have some dreams about taking adventures in the sea by myself when I was sleeping. It was funny; however, when I was a little kid, seafood did mean a kind of aspiration of going out to appreciate the fascination of the sea to me.

When I was in middle school, seafood became a representative of my mother’s love. My mother has been really busy for her business, as long as I can remember. However, in the third year of middle, she decided to lay her work aside and came back home to take care of me, because she wanted me to focus on study and be admitted by a better high school. She cooked fish in every meal for me, as she believed that seafood is full of nutrition and can help people become smarter. Although her fish is delicious, I became tired of it after several months. One day, I told her that I no longer want to eat fish anymore, because I fed up with that kind of taste. My mum looked at me and said nothing. In the next day, I found a dish of fish looks totally different appearing on my lunch table. I felt excited about its wonderful taste, and ate it up quickly. As for my mum, she just sat next to me and smiling. From then on, she tried her best to cook the seafood in different ways by learning from others and some cooking books. Several years later, when I started to learn cook by me myself, I realized how hard it is for my mum to cook fish in different ways. I understood that the seafood that I had in middle is not just food, but also my mother’s selfless love.

Now, since I have been studying in the United States for almost two years, seafood comes up with a different significance. It becomes a symbol of my hometown. I like to go to Chinese restaurant with my friends at weekend, because I do not like the Sodexho at all. Whenever I have seafood in Denver, I would recall the delicious yellow croaker made by my mum. At that point, I was homesick and missed my parents so much. It seems that there was an impulse in my heart drive me to buy a ticket and fight back to my parents as soon as possible. Sometimes at night, after seeing the nice pictures of seafood posted on Renren (Facebook in China) by my friends in China, I could not even hold the tear from my eyes. The feeling is hard to describe; however, I am sure that it came from the seafood. As a symbol of the hometown, the food connects me to the place I was born and the people I care about.

All in all, in different stages of my life: childhood, high school age and now, seafood represent different significances. And these valuable significances of seafood only belong to me. I am indisputable that the food and all those kind of feelings have deeply rooted in my heart, and will not change forever.