The True Story About How a Breadstick Changed This Child’s Life
(How It ‘Carbed’ Into My Mind)

When visiting my Aunt Lisa, Uncle Sean, and my cousin Ian, we went to an ice skating rink to spend the rest of the day at. I was never good at ice skating. I would always keep falling whenever I tried to move away from the wall, so I just kept holding onto it. My brother and my cousin were both avid skaters, so they were doing all sorts of speedy movements, that I could never do.

We were out on the Ice for hours, and before we even realized it, it was lunch time. “Oh, it’s lunchtime already!” my aunt Lisa exclaimed. My cousin and my brother both glided off the rink with relative ease, but I was definitely struggling, I don’t think I’ve fallen over more times in my life, besides when I was a toddler learning my first steps. We began to walk towards the concessions stand at the rink because we did not pack any food, thinking that we wouldn’t be there that late. I was glancing at the menu. Nothing really struck my interest at first sight. There was the usual cardboard pizza, stale soft pretzel, and a random mystery salad for all the health nuts. I was worried that there wasn’t going to be anything enjoyable to eat, but there was one thing on the menu that stood out to me, Bosco Cheese sticks, you might know them. They were in the frozen food aisle of the grocery store. But I knew them from school,  I remembered them from school! I never got them because for some reason, I thought they were bad at the time. Because there was nothing else on the menu that sounded the least bit appealing besides the breadsticks, so I got them, and OOOOOO they were good!

They were just the right temperature, a slight burn at the back of my throat just accentuated the flawlessness of the heat. The cheese basically just melted in your mouth, and the bread didn’t turn to powder when you ate it. The salt wasn’t overpowering. You could tell that it’s there, but it’s not bothering anything, like a fly on your car window. These four flavors, the temperature, the cheese, bread, salt, they were a quartet in my mouth, singing the most beautiful tune for my tastebuds.   I never would have imagined that food served at a school would be this good! We were driving back from our quaint, quick trip.When we got back from Michigan, meeting our extended family, we went back to our normal everyday routine. On a later day, I saw them. The Cheese sticks were being served at school again, and using my new gained knowledge, I got them. And they tasted the exact same. Now, these bosco sticks are my favorite meal at the school not just because of the taste, (even though it’s a major factor) but also the memories that flood back to me when I eat them. Remembering my brother and cousin trying to help me slide on my skates, but to no avail, the chill of the rink nipping at my nose, and just being with family in general. The memories of old friends are bitter sweet. It is great to “relive” the memories with friends from MECC and beyond, but it also saddens me that most of them are not my friends anymore. But that shouldn’t stop me from enjoying the memories while they happen.

Remembering back when we visited our family in Michigan, skating for hours, even though most of the time was me holding on to the wall. I feel that happiness that happiness that I felt way back when whenever I eat a bosco cheese stick. I even get memories of when I thought I didn’t like them. Like all my friends back in MECC that I had so much fun hanging out with. I remember one time, me and my friend were tossing pretzels at each other at lunch. We were having so much fun, that we didn’t realise the mess that we made. A lunch AID walked up to us and asked us to pick it up. We were nervous that we were in trouble, but they were giving no implication that we were. We picked up our mess and threw it out. The lunch AID thanked us, but then said that we needed to eat on the stage the next day! We were so nervous. Eating on the stage is like going to prison to a 2nd grader, and coincidentally, that day, they were serving breadsticks! But I digress.

 It’s not just specific events with bosco sticks that flashback, it’s any great memory with breadsticks. Personally, it surprises me that happy, family memories of my grandmother suddenly swim back into my mind just because of one time at Olive garden. I don’t know why, but breadsticks are in a lot of my memories I remember, I guess it’s because the school bosco sticks keep refreshing them back into my brain. It may sound silly, but it’s true, breadsticks are literally my brain food.

Though it isn’t homemade, I consider these bread sticks a family recipe. Not because of it’s origins, but because of the memories. Family would start flooding back into my mind just as I took a bite, as I have not feigned to say.
     

I guess what I’m really trying to say, is to not judge something before you even give it a chance. One of my “least favorite foods” became one of, if not my favorite food after I tried it, and it’s a school lunch! And this doesn’t only apply to food. You could apply it to face your fears, read some new books by not judging them by their cover, or even meeting new people. This food made me discover that I could try new things. I tried more new foods, rode my first roller coaster, (which I despised) I’m starting to meet some new people. I also learned that I really like breadsticks…… But joking aside, this is a whole lot bigger than one rod of carbohydrates and dairy, this could change your perspective and first impressions of so many things in the future. I learned to try new things, from trying a new thing! No other food gives me those happy memory flashbacks like those breadsticks, which is why I’m so glad I ended up trying them out. You should try things that you haven’t even considered before, it might change your life. For better or worse? That depends. But I honestly believe that the smallest new experiences, like eating a type of breadstick or the first time, can change your perspective.