2012 NJCTE High School Writing Contest: “Our Recipes: Our Selves”

NJCTE Personal Essay Writing Prompt: This year’s personal essay prompt asks you to explore your relationship to a particular food. The phrase “You are what you eat” usually refers to eating healthy, but for this prompt, think about how food (or your relationship to a particular food) reflects your personality. Think about food you love (or food you hate, or food you wish you could love).  There may be a special recipe that your family prepares only on holidays.  Perhaps a certain meal or dish reminds you of a particular place or a special day or event from your past, the way Marcel Proust relived his childhood when he bit into a madeleine (a tiny French cake) soaked in tea.  You may consider exploring why you turn to a particular food for comfort. Deadline: December 15, 2011.   Whatever direction you take, keep in mind that, as food editor Amanda Hesser writes, ”The food doesn’t matter, really…What it evokes does.”