Health Begins in the Kitchen
Here’s my recipe for weight-loss and world peace: A cozy (vegetarian) sit-down meal in a home, where we share a humble feast lavishly seasoned with respect and honest conversation.
In today’s fast life and fast food, our health is the most sacrificed. Much of it is seen in weight gain. Re-establishing a healthy relationship with our food is fundamental to long-term vitality.
Some of the most gratifying times of my life have been around the home dining table. The creation and consumption of food is a barrier-breaking medium for us to get elemental with each other and ourselves. From simply the need to satisfy bodily hunger to the aesthetics of gourmet consumption, food is a way for us to be aware of the realness of our humanity in this global village.
Satisfying hunger together…
The invitation to the kitchen is an invitation to life. It is for us to immerse ourselves in the undeniable realness of aromas, textures, colors, sounds, flavors and that additional sixth sense that guides you to create, if you’ll allow it. The preparation of food in the home is one of the most authentic experiences we can have. Rolling up the sleeves and getting the hands sculpting, molding, baking and sautéing, is such an organic and creative process that forces us to concentrate on the matter at hand.
Being in the moment is a pre-requisite to awareness and peace. There are many things constantly vying for the mind’s attention. But it’s a little difficult mentally wandering while chopping garlic. Even if we did, the bleeding finger will remind us where we are soon enough. Hence, food is a tangible way to be honest with ourselves. Which is why I loved it when one of my favorite authors bluntly stated:
If a woman can be made more peaceful, a man fuller and richer, children happier, by a changed approach to the basically brutish satisfaction of hunger, why should not I, the person who brought about that change, feel a definite and rewarding urge to proselytize?
– M.F.K. Fisher in An Alphabet for Gourmets
There are layers of flavor and depths of comfort in honestly prepared food. When this is served forth with respect to the soul who will eat for nourishment and pleasure, it is a beautiful experience. There is great satisfaction in showing ourselves the respect in preparation, and the other respect in consumption.
… and discovering our common humanity
Consuming food is a communal process, even when we’re eating alone. It reminds us of others that help us along towards the creation that is on our plates, like the farming, distribution, and friendly advice from the market hawker. Taken to the next level, eating together is a beautiful concept. How can there be war and battles of any scale if we repast together? It’s comforting, and it is human. Some of my best experiences have been cooking with, and for, friends and family. There is a bond beyond words that forms. Barriers dissolve and all that is important is fun, creativity and learning from each other.
Senge, the MIT guru synonymous with The Fifth Discipline of learning in organizations, asks us:
Is it too big a stretch of our imaginations to envision a world engaged in conversations that have real heart and meaning for us all?
- Peter Senge in The World Café
The communal process surrounding food results in an organic communication beyond spoken language. The best conversations I’ve had are at the table when feasting and sated, we create a world that is perfect for that moment through words. This is because we relate to each other with less barriers that we normally barricade ourselves with.
She had a point
The organic communication created is a great currency to celebrate the dignity of the human spirit. Responsible conviviality allows us to nourish the body through food, the mind through conversation, and allows the soul expressions of creativity and a certain sense of peace.
When I cook, yes, it is a combination of love, respect, affirmation, expectation, fulfillment, joy and many more emotions that I cannot articulate in words. I will be honest. I do want to see more peace in my world; the people I live with and the environment I live in. This is surely to have a ripple effect and subsequently the world will be an even better place to be in.
Mother Theresa may have been on to something when she said the way to peace on our planet was to go home and love our families. And allow me to add, to respect our bodies too.
Let’s begin in the kitchen.
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