The Perfect Cherry

Last week I bought a large bag of cherries. They were on sale (under two dollars a pound!). It seemed too good to be true, and perhaps it was. They were so beautiful, and I was so proud. But then I tried one, and it wasn't very good. I decided that they would be better used in a recipe rather than eaten out of hand, so I decided to go ahead and pit them all in preparation. Even though it is tedious work, I really don't mind pitting. My version involves slicing the cherries in half and popping the pit out with my thumb. It also involves frequent quality assurance taste tests, which brings me to the point of this post.

The overwhelming majority of the cherries were disappointingly bland. Hidden amongst them, however, were a couple of amazingly perfect, shockingly delicious cherries. Just knowing that I might come across another one, I would have happily tasted my way through pound upon pound of mediocre fruit. It is that joy that comes from finding something extraordinarily good, or special, that is, I think, the reason why so many people cook, for themselves and for others: never losing our ability to marvel when we come across something as simple as a perfect piece of fruit, and never giving up the search for ways to re-create it.