The Passion of the Kitchen
Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life. Some of us do what we love without getting paid for it because we have a passion whose value is much more than just money. We do what we love on the side, to keep our spirits going and to not lose touch with what we fell in love with before we had to make a living. And if we continue doing it just for the fun of it, with no financial strings attached, maybe we could walk straight into a new career if the timing is right.
And the timing is right for some careers to take off right now. Some careers may be born because we have enough time on our hands to fine-tune doing what we love and have the time to promote ourselves, some might come out communicating with new people we met during lockdown or people we haven’t spoken to in years, and some careers may start their climb because others have time because others have a need and the thing you love fulfills it.
It is too early to tell which routes these potential careers will take. Maybe some will peer out the window, see the real world and lock itself back up, happy to just be loved by one. Maybe others will dip their toes in the waters and only let the waves touch their belly buttons, and maybe there are others that will ride the ocean until its end. I have no idea if my friend’s passion will lead her into a career, but I do know that at this time, her passion is making waves.
My friend loves to cook, cooks with a passion that makes it look effortless. She also loves to make videos. A few years ago she created a Facebook group with another friend of hers about, what else, cooking. They created the page to share ideas about cooking, recipes of food to prepare for their children and as a place they could also go back to when needed. I don’t know how many members the group had in the past — two for sure — but today it has close to 4,500 members.
How did the group reach such a number in recent times? We have time to be in our kitchens, we love to share photos of our edible masterpieces and we want to learn how to do more. MasterChef wouldn’t be half the hit it is if cooking and eating weren’t passions that we all share.
But if you are thinking that this Facebook group just happened to be there at the right time, you are only half right. As I said, my friend’s other passion is making videos. She films herself making her dishes and her audience can also read how much of each ingredient she is using. If she isn’t filming herself, she is taking photos and posting them in the group, she has stunning graphics, she has polls to show that the group cares about its members and she will conduct market research into queries that members have about kitchen appliances. She has set a great example and a welcoming place for others. She made sushi the other day and now the group is full of photos of others that have followed in her food steps.
My friend wasn’t looking for fame, she wasn’t looking for a change in career, she was just following her passion and her passion has attracted others with the same zest for being in the kitchen. She might not change careers, she probably won’t be sending in an application for next year’s MasterChef but one thing is for sure, she is getting noticed. In the world of the internet, 4,500 might not seem like a big number but the fact that this number was achieved in a short time means something and that something is, even if your work title doesn’t have anything to do with your hobby or passion, that you should never give up on them because one day you might motivate someone else to tell your inspiring story, or in this case, The Kitchen Story.
