[Courtesy: https://vintagesareeblouse.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/radha3.jpg]
It’s early morning and
already there are pleasant smells coming out of Nancy’s kitchen window. As a
cube of butter melts in the glossy black pan, Nancy scoops out some crushed
herbs from a glass jar and slips these into the melted butter.
Just like this morning,
Nancy wakes up each day, early in the morning, to prepare the family breakfast
and to pack the lunch boxes for her school-going children. While her younger
daughter loves to relish over toasted sandwiches and spiced potatoes, the elder
one is crazy for the fudgy pastries and cakes. While her parents-in-law’s
demands incline towards soft foods like idlis and dhoklas, on the other hand, a
tray of biscuit-sized barbeque patties almost always fulfils her husband’s
gastronomic goals.
Nancy is a self-made
chef. She works from home, occasionally selling packets of dry snacks and homecooked
food items which she makes during her free time.
Another woman Reeti, a
healthcare professional, likes to adopt a holistic element in her cooking. From
her kitchen cookware to the freshness of ingredients, she pays attention to each
and every detail while cooking meals for herself and her husband.
Sunaina is a
post-graduate student living away from her family in a shared apartment in the
city. With little time that she gets off from her studies, she likes to
experiment with her baking recipes and to share the treats with her house mates…
Not everyone is a gourmet but just like Nancy,
Reeti and Sunaina, there are millions of women (and men) across the world, who
take much fancy in the process of cooking. Albeit, to some, cooking is a daily
responsibility, to others, it’s a passion or profession. Some people like to
see cooking as a means to flavourful wellness while some like to see it as a
leisure engagement of body-mind.
Nevertheless the reason, the process of cooking
is both a science and an art which is loved by everyone, just in different
different forms. Of lately, it has also been proven that cooking, like any
other art or therapy, is a form of salubrious remedy for achieving a state of
body-mind wholeness in an individual human being. Read through the snapshot of
ways given below to know how the process of cooking also acts as your personal
therapist.
Cooking As Your Personal Therapist
It has been demonstrated several times that the
process of cooking itself acts as an ointment to calm and soothe the various physiological
and psychological systems in our body, which might have gone through utter
exhaustion throughout the day.
Even the simplest of acts of preparing a salad
or flipping a chapatti can be highly invigorating provided that, they are
carried out with mindfulness and attention.
Cooking Then And Now
While some of you have already heard stories of
your great-great-grandma cooking in an earthen oven, others might have seen a
wheat roti being smoked over an
actual tandoor oven.
Cooking originated millions of years ago
however, the techniques of cooking have evolved greatly through several
generations, spanning decade after decade.
Obviously, you will not find the raw flesh
being tossed in the fire or seeing bone fragments getting grilled smoky-gray
over the flames. The present day cooking might have seen the transformation of
advancing technological equipments, the process of cooking itself remains the
same.
There are still those textures and there are
still those aromas wisping in the space of a kitchen. There are still the
chopping knives and there are still the pestle pots.
From Ayurveda-style cooking in the Vedic period
to the delicate medley of flavours simmering in the Mughal kitchen pots, the
silky chassis of cookery has witnessed the liveliness bubbling through the cooking
rooms throughout the ages.
Since the
time being, there is something about cooking which has remained the same.
Perhaps, there is a reward of the cooking process.
That is,
eating.
Many of us
love eating above everything. From biting into the chewy-cheesy crust of a
pizza to slurping through a bowl of sizzling noodles; from indulging in a glass
bubbling with fresh smoothie on a Sunday afternoon to sipping spoonfuls of hot
soupy daal at the end of a long day at work…from a tiring day to a thumbs-down moment, the
process of eating, for most of us, has always been one of the best therapies we
ever need to soothe ourselves, and perhaps to ground ourselves. A cup of hot
masala chai slows down time and a bowl of bhel
adds even more tanginess to the teatime gossips.
Apparently, the other side of eating that is,
the act of cooking too comes with an element of therapeutic nature in itself.
An Unimaginable Sensory Retreat
Like activities such as gardening, dusting,
painting and paper cutting, cooking too offers a sensory retreat which is both
satisfying and pacifying to one’s mind. In fact, researchers note that these
days many psychological practitioners as well as art therapists are also offering
cooking courses in the form of culinary therapy.
Scientists say that the process of cooking stimulates
a behavioural activation response in one’s body, which involves the attention
from all five senses of an individual.
The rhythmic beats of cutting and chopping,
kneading the flour, rolling the dough, peeling off a vegetable skin, squeezing
a lemon and techniques like these offer the individual with a meditative
experience. In addition to taste, texture, scent and sight, the cooking
sounds also make up an important part of the dining experience. No wonder, the subtle music, the
clinks and the clanks of the cutlery is relaxing.
A Minibreak Of Mindfulness
The bread mustn’t overburn and the curry
mustn’t overboil. The quantities of salt and water are to be taken care of.
Cooking asks you to stay always in the monitoring. It keeps you constantly
focused, and this is one of the biggest plus points of cooking with love.
According to various studies in Positive
Psychology, cooking, like baking can boost concentration and attention span,
drawing your attention into the present moment, thus, helping you stay aware.
As the famous saying, Cooking with love provides food for the soul. [Valerie McKeehan], cooking
also helps you nurture a mindful connection with your family, friends and
social relationships.
A Cup of Creativity
[Illustration by Diane Devine from Cooking Adventures for Kids, by Sharon
Cadwallader, 1974 via https://i.pinimg.com/originals/68/b1/a4/68b1a4fb36c705b3b18a97829db6a2e7.jpg]
Cooking can actually make you more creative, science
says. Whether you’re a creative professional, an artist, a bank worker or a
housewife, it has been studied that cooking can stimulate your creative
impulses thus inspiring you to complete that creative task off your bucket
list!
So, what ingredients are you going to put
together today to inspire your inner chef and to soothe your soul?
