September 2006 | Thought for Food
The Inner Cook
Good food, good intentions
and peace in your kitchen
by Bob Condor
Diane Carlson admits she knows that most of the people who sign up for her cooking classes are coming for the recipes.
Then she waits for the change. It always occurs.
“What happens is people experience life on a whole other level,” says Carlson, who teaches “Conscious Gourmet” classes and cooking retreats around the country. “What the students realize is that how you choose and prepare foods directly affects the life you want to live.”
Carlson’s point is straightforward enough. If you stop to think about the foods you are preparing and cooking, it’s going to change what you eat. Whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables, become the norm. And—big bonus here—you can transform how you experience the act of cooking. As drudgery is replaced by energizing ritual, time in the kitchen goes from frantic to contemplative. You can discover your inner cook. You can stand the heat in Harry Truman’s proverbial kitchen and then some. Peace and kitchen can co-exist in the same sentence. “I refer to it as massage from the inside out,” says Carlson. “Cooking definitely can put you into a meditative state.”
Robin Robertson is a cookbook author who always draws a crowd at book signings and cooking demonstrations. She was a huge hit at Seattle’s 2006 VegFest. The country’s largest annual vegetarian event, this year’s VegFest brought in more than 12,000 attendees over two days. In 1999, Robertson and her husband, Jon, co-authored Sacred Kitchen, a book that laid out the premise of turning your cooking space (physical and psychological) into a spiritual haven. She later emphasized the concept during an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
“I think of ‘spiritual’ here as a connection with the life force when you cook,” explains Robertson. “I believe strongly in cooking with love and a positive mindset. That attitude can help ground you and make cooking a time to look forward to as a way to recharge, rather than a chore.” While cooking, Robertson says she “keeps in mind the alchemy of the energies of ingredients combined with the energies of my own heart, head and hands.” And when the occasion beckons, she is not afraid to add some prayers to her preparation.
“One time in particular involved a friend who was quite ill and had lost her appetite, and was losing weight from the illness,” recalls Robertson. “I prepared a simple meal designed for maximum healing and nutrition. But perhaps more importantly, I prayed before we began to cook and opened my mind and heart to direct healing energy through my hands until the meal was ready.”
When Robertson’s friend began to eat the meal, she was overwhelmed by an increasing hunger, and didn’t stop eating until she’d devoured three platefuls. “She later told me she felt better overall for several days afterward,” remembers Robertson.
For her part, Carlson says she frequently takes a minute to physically connect with the fresh and whole-food ingredients in a purposeful way before cooking—even for just a few seconds.
“I will pick up a handful of lentils and think about how much different I feel cooking them rather than facing a week of fast foods or frozen [pre-made] foods,” says Carlson, who has proffered retreats in Santa Fe, Sedona and Ukiah in northern California’s Mendocino County.
Yet Carlson is not equating conscious cooking with extended prep time. It is possible to honor your inner cook and create delicious food without sacrificing too much time in the kitchen.
Carlson offers this savory example: For a nourishing side dish in short order, peel and slice sweet potatoes about a quarter-inch thick before boiling them in water for 10 minutes. Mash them with ginger juice (or grated gingerroot), a bit of butter and sea salt to taste. “I serve it a lot for dinner guests and they rave about it,” says Carlson. “The sweetness and saltiness work off each other.”
Part of becoming a more grounded and—dare we suggest it?—enlightened cook is planning ahead. Carlson recommends stocking your pantry with quick-cooking beans and grains for those nights when you want to get dinner together in a hurry. That way, you can pick up fresh veggies on the way home and maybe a piece of fish for a satisfying and quick meal. Broil the fish for 10 to 15 minutes with an instant marinade of fresh squeezed orange and lemon juices, a tablespoon of olive oil and sea salt.
Marilyn McCormick supervises cooking classes at Pacific Coast Cooperative (PCC) Natural Markets, a chain of highly popular grocery stores in the Seattle area and an early national pioneer in sourcing produce, fish and meats for customers. She says a well-stocked pantry and kitchen helps “to go right to the process” of settling into your cooking. Quiet calm comes in the bargain.
“Along with that, we teach a method of pulling together all of your ingredients and equipment at one time before starting to prepare or cook,” she says. “That way you are not struggling in the fridge or reaching for a pan at the bottom of a cabinet.” The result, McCormick explains, is that “your stressful day begins to fall away.”
Many chefs ascribe to the French practice of mise en place, which means having all of the ingredients for a recipe measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated et al beforehand. If you are a Food Network fan, you’ll recognize that mise en place is one reason why the meals prepared on your television screen seem so quick and effortless.
McCormick remembers watching one particular local chef working amid what the untrained eye might see as the chaos of filling orders in a packed restaurant. “The chef had a serene look on his face,” says McCormick. “He looked like he was conducting a ballet. My interpretation was that he had everything he needed right in front of him.”
In her own kitchen, McCormick says she regularly lays out all ingredients and equipment “as if I were teaching a class.” She always tries to have something in mind to prepare before entering the kitchen. Adding creativity to the equation diffuses the feeling of obligation that comes with hungry mouths to feed. “I think it is a good idea to cut down on panicky last-minute decisions,” says McCormick.
But there’s no reason to get overly complex about it. “We have cooking instructors who specialize in all sorts of foods and cuisine, such as Italian, African and Thai,” says McCormick. “One common theme is that many experienced cooks keep it simple. They don’t use 25 ingredients, but always have a lovely twist. Maybe it is lemon zest or a fresh herb.”
McCormick laughs before telling a story about a cooking instructor from Naples who is particularly popular with students. “He approaches his cooking with direct intention,” she says, “and he rarely uses more than six ingredients, whether he’s making lasagna or an appetizer. People in the class always are saying, ‘This is the best lasagna or bruschetta or best blah-blah-blah’ they have ever tasted. And the ingredients are basically no different from other recipes. It’s just that the instructor brings that intention to it.”
McCormick, of course, is a big fan of cooking classes for the soul as much as the palate. She has even taught weeklong cooking camps for kids.
“What happens is adults and kids alike see how the cooking process can flow from you,” says McCormick. “They might not quite realize it themselves at the time, but I can see it in their faces. There is a calm and peacefulness. It changes how they feel about cooking.”
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