I chose this dish because I felt it was a fitting representation of the pandemic for myself. Due to the quarantine enforced by the government as a result of the pandemic, my family tried to limit our excursions outside of the house. This included grocery shopping whenever possible. With this in mind, my family found a meal delivery service online called HelloFresh. HelloFresh now delivers food to our house on a weekly basis, sending the recipes and ingredients to make three dishes each week. This is the food I became used to during the pandemic, and I felt that using a Hello Fresh recipe would be a fitting approach to this project, since the prompt is to cook a dish that was comforting to me during quarantine. In deciding which HelloFresh recipe to use, I chose the triple mushroom truffle gnocchi because I felt it symbolized the personal growth and changes I experienced during the pandemic.

During the research I conducted regarding Italian potato gnocchi in preparation for this project, I found that gnocchi is a relatively ancient dish, which dates back to Roman times. Although it was not made with potatoes until the 16th century, the concept of gnocchi is quite old. This is interesting because although gnocchi is so old and so well-known, I had never heard of it until my family was sent a gnocchi meal from HelloFresh during the pandemic. This is one of the most direct ways in which this dish represents how I grew as a person over the course of the pandemic. The first time I tried gnocchi, I absolutely loved it and it immediately became one of my favorite pasta dishes due to its texture and flavor. I went from never having heard of gnocchi before the pandemic to loving the dish, preparing it at home when I have time, and now ordering it at restaurants when I (safely) go out to eat.

I also learned through my research that the most popular sauce to be paired with gnocchi is a light butter sauce with fresh sage. Why then, did I choose a triple mushroom truffle gnocchi recipe? This is because I felt, much like the gnocchi, that the mushrooms also represent a direct change I experienced during the pandemic. I have thought I hated mushrooms from as early as I can remember until age 19. HelloFresh recipes, however, often included mushrooms, and when my mother cooked dinner she insisted on using them in the recipes. After trying mushrooms in various dishes, I realized I actually do like mushrooms. This, again shows a personal change I experienced relating to food over the course of the pandemic. I wanted to somehow include mushrooms in my dish, so when I found this triple mushroom truffle gnocchi, I knew it would be perfect because it combined two foods that I grew to love over the course of the pandemic.

There are also more abstract ways in which I changed over the course of the pandemic. Most of them return to the concept of trying something new, which is how I learned to love gnocchi and mushrooms, so I felt this dish represented my experience of trying something new and loving it. For example, I thought I hated exercise, sports, and sweating until I was 19 years old. During the pandemic, I attempted at-home Pilates exercises and I found out I absolutely love it. My family laughs about how much of an opposite opinion I have about exercising now, compared to the opinion I had a year ago. This pattern of trying new things and discovering new things I now love characterized much of my quarantine, as I spent a significant amount of time at home and was provided the time and opportunity to try new things in this environment. From my conversations with friends and family members, I don’t think this experience of picking up a new hobby or finding a new passion is unique to only myself, so I felt this would be something to which many people could relate.

I really enjoyed this project. I liked that I was able to reflect on my quarantine experience as a whole while also applying it to class content. This allowed me to engage in self-exploration and consider ways in which I have changed as a person over the course of quarantine by trying new things. The timing of this project also lined up perfectly in my life. This project was due the day after I moved back to Atlanta. In some ways, this project bookended my “quarantine” by marking the end date of the time I spent at home due to COVID-19. I went home to Columbus, Ohio during my freshman year at Emory and because of COVID-19 I did not returned to Atlanta until today, June 3, and I am now sitting in my new apartment as I finish this essay. The meal I cooked for this project was the last meal I ate with my family at home in Columbus before returning to Atlanta. Therefore, I feel this project happened at a very convenient and symbolic time, which allowed for me to reflect on my experience in quarantine, as it marked the last meal I made at home.

Works Cited:

https://amarorestaurant.com/gnocchi-origins-and-evolution/