Worcestershire Wordplay

On June 1, 2024, I noticed that my Instagram page had 99 followers. I decided it would be fun to post an offer: My hundredth follower could choose my next piece of writing. It got as much attention as I anticipated, which was minimal, but thanks to commenting on a few pages more successful than mine, I got a bite that I am most excited about.

My hundredth follower is Matti Stooker, an actor from the Netherlands. I invite you to check out his page and his work.

In the meantime, Matti had a fun idea for my next piece of writing, which you can read below. His idea was to write what I was going to write, then translate it into another language, and translate it back to see what remained from the original text. I loved this idea, but didn’t know where to begin, so I asked Matti to give me a single word that I could go off of. He didn’t disappoint, offering me the following word: Worcestershire.

I decided not to plan ahead, to just write from the inspiration of that word, and to edit minimally. Additionally, in honor of my new friend, I decided to translate the text in and out of Dutch. I hope you like it, or if not, try to read something else that I have written.

Introducing, Worcestershire Wordplay:

Worcestershire is a word that makes many would-be chefs cry when they are pronounced. A sauce named after the place where it was introduced, where its makers lived. I can't think of a rhyme, I can't think of a pun, all I can think of is how weird and weird the word itself can be.

I consider myself a convincing cook, although not worthy of a career, and I can't tell you what Worcestershire sauce should support in a recipe. I can't imagine the taste, I can't describe the sensation. I think I have a bottle in my fridge, even though it's expired, and yet I can't remember why I bought it or what I used it for.

As I continue to think about it, I find myself perplexed for two reasons. Firstly, what on earth is Worcestershire for? Second, and more self-critical than the first: Why don't I know what it does to a dinner? Why don't I know how it goes with breakfast? Why don't I know how to make a lavish lunch? I consider myself a chef, and yet the best chefs on the planet can suggest popular dishes that use Worcestershire wisely, and waste nothing.

This reminds me that there is something new to learn every day. Someone new to meet, something new to eat, something new to read, a new place to sit. The day you think you know it all, your next dose of humble pie is waiting to be picked from the tray and placed on the table in front of you. So if you're not hungry for the endless journey of learning, your best bet is to hunger for the rude awakening of a lesson forced upon the proud anti-student.

Speaking of students: The makers of Worcestershire sauce were quite a studious bunch. John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins were the inventors – it's strange to think that a sauce needs inventors, like a machine or a device. Nevertheless, John and William came from Worcestershire, England, where they indeed invented their indelible condiment that made Worcestershire a household name – and even a bottle in many households.

I promised that the couple was scientific and intellectual. Were John and William chefs? No. Were they even in the restaurant business? No. The two were pharmacists. Maybe this makes sense to you, because at that time (the 1800s), pharmacists commonly mixed batches of ingredients for remedies. It was nothing like the swamped pharmaceutical industry we know and feel today. No, they contained a plethora of tasty components that were put together and stacked in their stores. Therefore, it is no surprise that they could have realized this flavoring as if it were a cure. It's a lot like the invention of cola, or many other well-known treats of today.

I think there is a valuable, valuable lesson in this story. Often in life we ​​believe that our fate is known, that paths are paved, and that our journeys are written down like a note in a notebook. And yet life is full of twists and turns at every turn. Whether we are ready or not, life has the next lesson to teach us. Life has the next chapter where we can be characters. Life has new adventures for us, if only we would take the next step, or the next leap, into the great unknown.

It is scary – almost as scary as publicly saying “Worcestershire” on a promenade full of fame and special pride – to look at your life and realize that change is coming. Some changes we beg, other changes we beg to let pass us by. Change is scary, but sometimes that fear of change is really just resistance to discomfort. Discomfort is not easy, otherwise it would only be mentioned as comfort, but discomfort is necessary.

If life were meant to be easy, there would be nothing to achieve. Farmers would not defend their fields if there were no devils for food. Builders would not boast of stones from caves if there were no brethren begging for a building. No song would be sung if the singer's audience did not seek out a symphony.

Life is difficult because it is through hardship and change that greatness is achieved. Life is difficult because we come to appreciate the absence of goodness when the sea is calm after the storm. This is especially true when we see that the storm has quickly carried us away to a harmonious oasis of an island, the place where we were meant to be. It's true that sometimes we need life's terrible storms to help us drift toward the dream we were meant to have. Worcestershire sauce is a wonderful reminder of this signage.

To conclude this chaotic collective of confusing calligraphy, I must give high praise and wonderful honor to the lessons of Worcestershire.

First, the lesson that the word itself teaches us: The varying pronunciation and the effort to find the right pronunciation can be joyful, amusing, and good. Second, there is the lesson of the ingredient itself: My lack of knowledge about how to use the sauce is more of a rebuke to myself, as the greatest chefs in the world can master the ingredient in any dish. Third, and most profound, the lesson from its creators: Your life is not set in stone, your journey is not over, and amazing things can happen that you could never have predicted.

You can change something, you can take a risk, and you can try something new. You may fail, but even if you fail, you can learn a lesson. But if you succeed, oh my goodness if you succeed, your only regret will be that you didn't start sooner. And that, my friend, is a regret from which you will easily recover.