Back when we were living here in Montreal when I was a little girl, my dad used to take us to Marché Jean-Talon every time he would pick up my sister and I by himself from Saturday School. Marché Jean-Talon was a big farmer’s market, and in the springtime, there would be barrels and barrels of beautifully ripe fruits and vegetables. As we would pass by, farmers would offer samplings of their selection, and my dad always accepted and got more for us, buying a small bag of what he was offered to thank the seller. I used to beg him to buy more, to go for the big barrel of apricots, plums, apples cucumbers, peppers, or my favourite, tomatoes. I didn’t really want to eat so much of it, nor did I care to stop the seller from pestering us to buy it already, and I didn’t necessarily want to see the smile of gratitude on his or her’s face either. No, what I wanted was far better– I wanted to see the look of shock on my mom’s face when we got home.
And every once in a while, my dad would give in to my begging and I would see a smile sneak past his face. He knew very well what he was doing when he bought that big bushel of tomatoes. He knew that when we got home, my mom would be surprised, then annoyed, and then just confused. What would she do with all those tomatoes?
But my mom was resourceful. She knew what to do with all those tomatoes. She froze them, dried them, pickled them, and stuck them into every meal. They were in our eggs in the morning, in our sandwiches at lunch, and in our soup, salad, and main course at dinner. I have to give her credit–she even cleverly stuck them into our meals without our noticing it.
Now my daydreams take on a similar path as that of my parents. I sit on the bus and I dream about Omar taking our little kids to the market to buy big barrels of strawberries and tomatoes. I imagine how they would take delight in surprising me with their purchases and how we would together experiment with making different flavours of jams and freezing the rest. I think of the bonds created when parents and children share something as basic as food. I dream about creating good memories for life in my kids, of family and food.