I can't believe they ask about HEROES and not about FOOD.
i once declined rob young's sushi, but have since decided i regret that choice. my mother makes the best spring rolls and veg. bulgoki in the world, and when i miss her, i'm missing what she has put on my plate all my life. i miss watching my father grill up his brats and italian sausages with such glee, though i don't miss the sausages themselves. i love and miss good, cheap ethiopian food, and still drive all the way to philly to get it. bob makes the best dinners; nancy makes the best breakfasts; emma, soon, i think, will be making the best desserts (and bec makes the best messes). pad thai in the hp warms me, as does chimney in edison and the village in jersey city (paneer tikka masala, oh my!). temu's nasi goreng, long gone and half a world away, had the perfect balance of aroma, salt, heat and grease and i still eat it in some dreams. i make excellent yogurt and pete's bees make the best honey. uncle ron's trees make the best maple syrup, and the LPBs bushes bear the best berries. David himself makes the best bread pudding and potato dishes the world has ever seen. And the white star bar and madame claudes are tied for having the best french fries outside of what bob, david and mom can turn out. i miss my sometime eating companion of the summer of '06. i miss sunday dinners with my family, and weeknight dinners at the blue counter with kim and john (fried rice with onion, garlic, cabbage and mom). i already miss my dinners with bob, nancy et al, and the LPBs. I never had the pleasure of eating with Mr. Rogers, but I did have the pleasure of hearing him out, one day in manhattan, and he reminded us/me to appreciate all those who had "loved us into being." i do this with every meal-- i think about those sitting beside me or across from me and love them, or, if eating alone, i think about who taught me to make it or at least to seek it out-- and i love them, too. there is no "bless us, o lord, and these thy gifts,"--this is my grace. good food and good eating companions-- these are my lifelong heroes, because they have helped me to know what is good and worth savoring, and how to do it.