The Mindful Chef
Thich Nhat Hanh, in his wonderful The Miracle of Mindfulness, tells a story about eating a tangerine with a friend. To paraphrase: the friend was wolfing down the tangerine, not giving much thought to the simple act of eating a tangerine. Thây goes on to say that if you’re not eating the tangerine mindfully–thinking only of eating the tangerine at that point–then you’re not eating the tangerine. You’re ingesting whatever else is “on your plate” at the time. So you could be eating American Idol (I’m trying to avoid the easy Paris Hilton joke), or drinking rush-hour traffic.
The same thing applies to cooking. Now, I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m some kind of Zen master. I’ve got monkey mind that’d do Curious George proud. So it’s not as though I can whip up a four-course meal only thinking of the four-course meal. Especially when you’re cooking for company, and the company’s in the next room (and/or your nephew’s gleefully rearranging your spice rack), you’re trying to be sociable and pay attention to what you’re cooking as well.
So, at the very least, if you’re going to cook–and especially if you’re going to cook for friends and family–do it mindfully. If you’re thinking back on the last time your fettucine alfredo turned out like wallpaper paste, or thinking ahead to a movie, you’ll end up with Penne Harrison Ford (or worse still, Chicken William Shatner; would that be Capon Kirk?). If you prepare the meal lovingly, with warmth for the people for whom you’re cooking, the results are different than if you cooked last night’s argument, or the phone bill.
Yeah, I know, it probably sounds new-agey. Try it sometime, though… you’ll taste the difference.
Tags: comfort food, cooking, Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen