Unleashing pure joy in quarantine cooking
Unemployed amid virus, amateur cook makes the most of her time
Every day, a world of cuisine stirs to life in the kitchen of a 500-square-foot condo in Parkdale.
In just a few months under COVID-19 lockdown, Brittany Lam-Greene has experimented with hundreds of recipes and impromptu creations.
Often, the smell of chocolate chip meringue cookies wafts throughout her home as they sit atop a cooling rack on the counter, the light, airy orbs bathed in the sunlight streaming through her windows. On any given day, she’ll snack on her sourdough bread covered in her own creation of charred marinated peppers, marjoram and whipped ricotta.
“Despite how difficult the quarantine has been in so many different ways, it is nice that time is no longer of the essence. All of those dishes I’ve been wanting to make but ‘couldn’t find the time’ are now becoming the highlight of my day. Food does have a way of brightening your day,” says LamGreene.
Her kitchen is by no means restaurant-grade; it’s a simple condo setup, best for one cook. Still, Lam-Greene has been able to produce elevated dishes that look like they could be from the world’s top restaurants. The an artistry that comes together on the plate is making acclaimed chefs take notice. World-renowned Mexican chef Fabian von Hauske is now following Lam-Greene’s new cooking Instagram account, Avant-Garde Manger. Von Hauske, whose New York City restaurant Contra was awarded a Michelin Star, even shared one of her posts on his own Instagram story.
And Sarah Copeland, a James Beard Award winner, cookbook writer and Food Network veteran, has also reached out with a personal message to LamGreene.
It’s affirmation, which fuels her continued drive to create beautiful and delicious dishes. But the food-topia she’s crafted emerged from a darker place. Lam-Greene was feeling really low after she was laid off from her job as an assistant retail buyer and part-time server at the start of pandemic restrictions, her routine instantly upended. Unsure of how long her unemployment would last, she applied for CERB, desperate to find ways to settle into this new reality.
“Being removed from our formerly structured routines has taken a significant toll on my mental health,” she says.
She realized that without a passion to pursue within the four walls of her condo, she’d spiral into a dark place, so she turned to cooking as a way to cope. Little did she know it would soon become one of the main joys of her life.
“Before this quarantine, I always viewed cooking as a hobby that I just did for fun in privacy. Not realizing that something that brings me so much joy and relaxation could also help someone else who needs a bit of a distraction and something to brighten their day as well,” she says.
Cooking is cathartic for her, but she also loves the humanness and simplicity of creating beautiful food with her own two hands. The intimacy. The personalization.
“There is something to be said about understanding the amount of labour and time that is involved in cooking at home,” Lam-Greene says. “I’ve also found it very satisfying to cook something by yourself over buying it. You feel more connected to it and it has a sort of specialness you cannot recreate.”
Though she admits, like many other millennials, she did and still will enjoy dining out because it’s an experience that can’t be easily replicated. However, she also realizes that she’s able to make restaurant-quality food at home. “Now, I would rather dine out less and be slightly more selective than eat out at random places multiple times in the same week. I also make a point to revolve my entire vacation around my food itinerary, with extensive google maps and planning, which feels like a treat instead of habit,” she says.
Cooking at home gives LamGreene something to look forward to even in dreary times. “It’s different for everyone, but finding whatever small thing that’ll bring you a source of happiness right now is really helpful,” she says.
That happiness doesn’t stop in her kitchen; Lam-Green is taking the joy to others. From dropping off dishes outside her friends’ homes to boost their morale, to recording recipe videos for others to follow along at home, she’s hoping to share the joy of cooking with others and help everyone feel less lonely.
“I also think conversations around mental health and how we can be there for one another right now is so important.”
On her posts, friends and family members interact with strangers from around the world, discussing her creations and food in general. They ask for tips, inquire about recipes and bond over a love of food. There is connectivity in creating something from scratch, something she says resonates with people even when they are forced to be far apart.
“In a time where connecting with others in a traditional sense is not feasible, it has been really amazing to see how something so simple, such as home-cooking, has managed to keep me connected with so many people virtually.”
More than that, it’s the gratification she gets when others send her photos of their creations. “If I can inspire one other person to fall in love with cooking at home the way I do, then this has all been worth it,” Lam-Greene adds.
She will continue to share her artful creations, but says she wants to always stay true to herself, without succumbing to pressure to start writing a cookbook or opening a restaurant. “I could see myself wanting to continue this, but I wouldn’t want to force it,” she says.
For now, she wants to make her creations as accessible as she can. Here are the tips she urges home cooks to embrace, on everything from cooking to grocery shopping to plating.