Dennis Natividad Leslie

Since I was a kid, I have had a close relationship with food.

My earliest memories that I can recall were with food involved and most also involved my Filipino grandmother, Lola Luz, cooking on a make shift black cast iron burner with similar coloured frying pan. I can remember the oil splattering all over the place whilst she slowly and lovingly fried a whole fish until it was golden brown, the skin crispy on the outside, the eyes white as porcelain dinner plates and fins so crispy and whispy thin that when you put it in your mouth it starts with a crunch and slowly disappears, leaving the salty taste of the sea and distinctive flavour of a perfectly fried fish. I always think how wonderful it is to have these memories and how lucky I was to start life with such simple pleasures that brings joy every time I recall them in my mind, like eating the first ripe tomato straight off the tomato vine that my uncle grew. I can remember the day like it was yesterday, him and I sitting on the back porch eating tomatoes like they were apples, sprinkling a little salt with every bite.

My dad grew just about every fruit and vegetable known to man and the memories I have of our back yard growing and picking fruit is just priceless! My dad up a rusty red ladder with a bucket picking the fruit up the top of the tree and me at the bottom of the tree with a washing basket picking the fruit down low. You can’t beat life experiences like that!