Adding a little spice to life Story & Photos By Lauren Branch These days people are so busy that cooking is becoming a thing of the past, but Frank Crowley, owner of Spice Bouquet in Kinston, believes that cooking should be a top priority for everyone. Cooking at home has so many added benefits, according to Frank. It helps ensure that your food is healthier than fast food, lowering salt and sugar amounts, it helps you save money by cooking one meal that can last multiple days instead of buying one entree that only lasts for that meal. Frank started cooking at an early age when he lived in his native Brooklyn, New York. He was one of five boys, and the second oldest. The oldest brother had hopes of becoming a priest, so he had other
focuses in life, making Frank next in charge to help his mom out around the house. His mom was the assistant to one of Wall Street’s top dogs, and his dad was a city commissioner, so they were very busy business people and leaned on him for help with his siblings and in doing house chores. At 8 years old, he began assisting his mom in the kitchen with small tasks, such as cutting up vegetables and doing prep work on the foods his mom planned to cook. Frank remembers cutting carrots a lot and helping to prepare the meats like roasts, which he said they ate quite often because of their large family size. Crowley said he remembers how happy he was as a child after he cooked his first turkey for the family,
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and by about age 10, he could cook a full Sunday dinner. Cooking family dinners and actually sitting down around a table as a family was the norm during those times, and Frank feels that it is a sad loss that we do not do those things as often anymore. “Family dinner is a history lesson and if they don’t have dinner together, they miss out on family history and getting to know your family. Where is our world going to be in 15-20 more years?” he stated during a recent cooking class. Although Frank had an early start when it comes to his love for cooking, he has not always been in the business, although he has mostly worked in the food industry. For many years, Frank worked as a financial
