Mr. Joe McMillan from Sulphur, La., came into Epicure one day last month, walked straight up to the counter and he asked me if I liked to cook. Being a stranger, he didn’t know what a silly question that is.

“I do, and I like to eat even more,” I said.

He then proceeded to rattle off his favorite recipe for catfish and bell peppers in a thick Louisiana accent.

Now I love catfish, and just about everything else, so I listened patiently as he watched me write down the recipe — and that is how the love of food is shared.

“Fry up some catfish filets, as many as you need to feed who you need to feed,” he said.

And slice up a couple of peppers and onions into thin slices and chop some celery. Then layer the celery, peppers and onions with the catfish, in a couple of layers. Add some stock and simmer with the lid on for 10 to 15 minutes or until tender.

“It’s the best darn thing you’ll ever want to eat,” he said.

Food is a bridge between people and cultures because we all love to share something that makes us so happy and feel so good — and all cuisines start with a few basic building blocks.

In the South, onion, celery and bell pepper are the foundation of their cuisine — called the Holy Trinity or trinity. From those simple, humble ingredients many a soul-satisfying gumbo and dirty rice have come.

It’s interesting to ponder the simplicity and similarity of the most basic elements of food of completely different cultures.

In French cuisine, many great recipes start with “mirepoix,” a combination of carrot, onion and celery and form such basic dishes as coq a vin, chicken braised in wine, or the stock for French onion soup. The same ingredients hold for Italian, with tomato and some garlic thrown in, as in the classic marinara.

One of the most simple and classic Italian dishes is eggplant parmesan. I still dream about the best I ever had from a restaurant in California. Very simply floured and fried, thinly sliced eggplant topped with a wonderful and simple tomato sauce and sliced fresh mozzarella. So straight forward, simple and delicious — each of the elements becoming more than the whole when combined.

Hispanic cooking follows along the similar lines, with onion and garlic, but chilies form the third leg of the trinity. Chef and cookbook author Rick Bayless’ “Essential Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa” is uncomplicated cooking at its best.

To make the salsa, roast 6-8 plum tomatoes under the broiler until blackened. At the same time, roast in an iron skillet or griddle, two large jalapenos and three unpeeled cloves of garlic until blackened and soft in spots. Let the tomatoes cool then peel. Cool and stem the jalapenos and peel the garlic and add it to food processor with the tomatoes. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup diced onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/3 cup chopped cilantro and 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar or lime juice. This sauce is used as the base for many dishes, including tomato rice, or stands alone as a condiment or sauce for grilled fish.

Asian cultures present a different set, with garlic, ginger and green onion being their foundation. Indian cooking has the same basic three, with yellow onion instead of green, and with the addition of many spices, creates its own unique flavor profile.

Which brings me to the other half of this discussion — the use of fresh ingredients. Those three main ingredients are the foundation of those different cuisines because that’s what’s abundant in those respective countries. Just like the catfish and pepper dish. It’s better because the catfish was caught, and the peppers were plucked from a bush in the garden, that day. Not fancy, not prepared by a chef, but by your grandma in her kitchen — the best food you’ll ever eat because it has a connection.

Good cooking is a function of what’s available and fresh from the farmer’s market and garden, and fulfilling that connection with the land and cultural heritage that many seem to have forgotten.

Erin Earles works at Epicure in Anacortes when she’s not tending her garden, family and horses in Bay View. If you have a column suggestion or comment, or a question about food or gardening, please e-mail her at .