How's that for Motivation

My parents are both Italian-American born from Italian-American families, who's grandparents were Italian. Redundant, I know. The point is that my whole life has been surrounded by food. Not your average Sloppy Joe or your frilly Trout A L'Almondine, but Pasta; Pasta with sauce that is. Our family staples are as follows: canned tomatoes, olive oil, three kinds of dried pasta and garlic; in that order. If our pantry is out of canned tomatoes it's almost a crisis (we order pizza and pasta takeout if such an event occurs). My family lives for the joy of Italian-American food. Meatball marinara, clams and linguine, stuffed artichokes, veal cutlet, chicken cutlet, lasagna, antipasto, insalate, and of course pasta are just a highlight of what we love to eat.

Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with being motivated, but there is a point. Growing up, I was surrounded by this food so much; it's all I knew. As of late, though, I now know what it's like to have all that you've ever known, taken away. Imagine the reason why you started cooking. Imagine your first ascetic experience with food. Mine was my grandmother's sunday dinners, no one could touch her spaghetti and meatballs. Now though, I have just been told no more pasta with sauce, or chicken cutlets, or anything! My doctor has come to the conclusion that I might have Celiac Disease and Lactose Intolerance. They are going to be running tests for a while but it seems like that's going to be the next chapter of my life. It's amazing that the one thing that was my motivation to be a chef is now my worst enemy. The one thing that I loved so much, I cannot eat.

Though my story might sound downright depressing, if you know me enough you know that I always look for the good in a situation like this:
1. I was lucky enough to figure this out before it got much worse
2. All of my friends are very understanding and supportive of me
3. I could have it much worse then having a couple of food allergies
4. I love a challenge

So yes, I cannot eat 75% of the food on this campus but I do not let that defeat me. I have many plans on making this work in my career and my schooling. Learning techniques that involve using gluten will not be hard, I can still learn it the same as everyone else, just without tasting it. I mean I've worked with enough pasta to know what al dente is. I've baked enough cakes to know what "moist and fluffy" means and anything new I'll manage one way or another. My point is that internal motivation is very important because no matter how many road blocks you come into, or how many things you feel like your incapable of doing, you have to keep that drive. In this industry you stay because of your passion, you leave because it's lost. Remember your passion and the rest will follow suit.