3 Reasons to Cook with Your Family
Now more than ever, we’re realizing how important our family or chosen “tribe” of humans we keep around us, truly are. While spending more time with our families, roommates, and other friends, while practicing safe social distancing, here are our top 3 reasons for cooking with your chosen people.
Cooking during this time is more than just a necessity. It is one of the forgotten luxuries of our modern-day society! This period of reflection and confinement has allowed us to begin to connect back with those around us, and also to things that bring us simple, child-like joy. In our day-to-day hustle it is SO easy to get caught up. Using this time to not only strengthen your cooking and creativity skills, but also to deeply connect using all of your senses. Tapping into our under-used or sometimes overstimulated senses allows us to take a moment to step back, take a good look at what we have to work with, and plan accordingly.
Reason # 1 — Everyone has a different skill set, and you can elevate each other! A great example of this personally, is my mother. She is a true magician in the kitchen and recognized quickly that college and business school did not leave me with the skills I needed in the kitchen. Through a quick mentorship, she elevated my skill set and taught me basics I REALLY needed to learn. Simplistic things like how to best season, what spices go with what meat or veggie, and how to pair delectable and savory items. On the flip side, I taught her a few things in the kitchen too! The first was how to use a rice cooker for more efficient and quick dishes, and the second major development in her skill set, was learning to use the one thing I had mastered in the kitchen — a sous vide cooker! Something new and technology based (since the one I purchased and use had an app to best cook the food) was so out of her comfort zone. However, since showing her this tool, she has used it non-stop! She loves the app! Skill set development and mentorship is key here.
Reason # 2 — Creativity has no boundaries when you feel safe! Some of the most unique and awesome creations have come from regular people pushing the envelope, simply because they finally feel safe enough to do so. No one likes to fail, and even more so… no one likes to publicly fail. Family, friends, or your tribe are a great resource for formulating ideas. Often times the ones closest to us, both physically and emotionally, can hear and see things about our ideas that we might not be as privy to. Cooking and exploring creatively with your people during this time is a great way to relieve stress, keep your mind and spirit feeling innovative, and to keep your confidence up by trying new things. Since you can fail, and fail well, you’ll be flexing the muscle of resilience, and helping your loved ones do the same.
Reason # 3 — Reconnection with the earth, nature, and our natural state of being will bring us closer together as we consume less and consciously create more. As silly as it may sound, during this time connecting to the earth, nature and our bodies is super important. What cooking has allowed me to see during this time about this connection, is that what I feed my body and mind, are directly related to how I feel. The first part of the month I spent consuming everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. Netflix, TV, bad Lifetime movies, and even the horrible processed foods I had sworn off years ago. I became a bottomless pit for anything I found. And then suddenly, my dear family reminded me why I was feeling so bad. I was consuming mindlessly without creating consciously. Simply put, I realized the moment I started creating my meals with love, planning them out using ingredients I knew would help keep me healthy and well, and using my mind body connection as well as my very real connection to the earth and the ingredients I was using… my whole perspective and feeling about cooking shifted.
While these may not be the only reasons to stay inside and cook with your loved ones, these are just a few simple “a-ha” cooking gratitude moments I’ve had over the past 8 weeks. Wishing you wellness, freshness, blue skies, green grass and lots of delicious ingredients!
