Mindfulness and pleasure: The keys to your culinary curiosity
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I've been food writer and culinary educator for years and years, and of course a cook for much longer, and one thing I've found is that the difference between a lifelong relationship to cooking that's fun, and that you look forward to, is less about what you're cooking and much more about how you feel while you're doing it.
If cooking feels like a chore, or you feel stuck in a rut, or like you don't have time to really enjoy yourself, then of course you aren't going to be very eager to spend much time in the kitchen. And for most people, cooking is utilitarian. BUT great news: It doesn't have to be, even if it feels that way now.
If you've ever wanted to feel a wave of excitement every time you crack open a cookbook or come up with a meal idea, and anticipation as you watch a dish come together, it is completely possible to get there.
And, good news, you can feel that way even cooking simple, every day foods (in some ways it's easier to generate excitement because you get the payoff much more quickly): You don't need to wait for a special occasion to fall back in love with the practice that nourishes you.
To start rebuilding that passion and connection to cooking, focus on ways you can associate good feeling, pleasurable, fun things with cooking or with your kitchen in general.
I talk a lot about pleasure practices in my writing newsletter, but the same principle applies here: The more you can weave fun, pleasurable things directly around the activity you're trying to find joy in, the more likely you are to start building mental connections between fun things and that activity.
In other words: Pleasure practices + cooking time = cooking is pleasurable (this equation is a bit oversimplified, but you get the idea).
Pleasure practices in the kitchen deserve their own newsletter, but briefly, all this means is letting yourself enjoy your time in the kitchen as much as possible, and (most importantly) being proactive about bringing in more things you love directly in tandem with the time you spend cooking or eating the food you cook.
Maybe for you that means a favorite playlist, lighting candles, dancing around in the kitchen, or maybe if you find cooking stressful it means doing a few minutes of meditation or grounding exercises first to help your nervous system feel regulated and calm (one of my favorites is tree breathing).
This week, pick one thing that brings you joy elsewhere in your life, and see how you can incorporate it into your cooking time. And let me know how it goes in the comments!
Your kitchen is a pleasure palace
Nigella Lawson describes the kitchen as a pleasure palace, and that idea is part of the inspiration behind my classes in the Culinary Curiosity School.
A pleasure palace, to me, is a place of wonder, and sensory engagement, where anything can be created and enjoyed, and where the act of creating is something that feels sensuous and slow: Even if I'm just cooking something quick.
I imagine a pleasure palace as somewhere that is comfortable and enticing (my mental picture has lots of velvet pillows and fluffy blankets), but also somewhere that inspires and sparks creativity, rather than just being a comfortable but inertia-less space to sit.
What if your time spent cooking felt both playful and so deeply luxurious, so relaxed, and so luscious that you couldn't wait to get into the kitchen and create? Â
In my classes, one of my greatest goals is not just to teach culinary techniques but to reconnect cooks (home cooks and professional ones) with the reasons they fell in love with cooking in the first place.
Like Ferment and Chill, where you learn recipes that fit into weekly mindfulness-focused themes, plus techniques for cultivating a calm, grounded, and pleasurable cooking practice.
Or Creative Cooking Playground, where you learn simple techniques for reconnecting with the pleasure of cooking so you can find joy in cooking again (or perhaps for the first time).
Or in classes like Floral Ferments or Rooted in Place, where we focus on certain techniques and ingredients as the basis for our class: But where working with those ingredients gives you a chance to be really present in the moment as you do.
When the kitchen is a pleasure palace, there's a sense of intentionality and mindfulness (or being fully present in the moment): Food is made with care, and the act of cooking is considered  and mindful. It becomes something that takes you out of the grind of daily life, rather than being another to-do. And as a bonus side effect, that improves your confidence, too.
If you're ready to build your very own pleasure palace, or you want to give a unique gift, come join me: All our classes are open for preorder, and 50% off with the code GIFT.
P.S. I offer free digital gift cards for your custom message: So you can print or email it to give your gift recipient a physical gift to open as part of their course.
Just email me at hello@root-kitchens.com!
