Who likes to cook?

“Who likes to cook?” is an apt question this time of year. Sometimes it’s an unequivocal “I do!” or it’s someone running out the back door as they shout “Not me!” But often that’s not the whole story. Cooking (like all activities) is a reflection of Native Genius and it comes out in different ways for different people.

• Claire likes to improvise when she cooks, but glazes over when she has to follow a recipe.
• Shana likes inviting people over and cooking fancy dinners, but doesn’t like cooking during the week, nor does she like cooking meat.
• My brother likes to grill, grill, grill — on charcoal. One Christmas in Maine, he blockaded charcoal with his body in ten degree gusts of wind. But you’d be hard pressed to find him sifting through soufflé recipes.

Here’s to laughing if there’s no gravy because it’s in no one’s Native Genius to make it — but better yet, finding the person who lights up running errands to go out and grab some.