Cooking long and elaborate meals from scratch is such a vital part of my self care that when I don’t get to do it, like when I’m living in a hotel for a few days, I get a little unmoored.
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Rafael Garcia-Suarezreplied to Adrianna Tan last edited by
@skinnylatte yes this. It’s the only effective way I know to untangle my brain.
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My main motivator is that I don’t see food as just a way of fueling my body. Very often it’s also the only way I can reconnect with the deep homesickness I often feel. Learning how to cook the things I miss and definitely can’t get abroad is something that calms me and tells me that everything is going to be fine.
My first year in SF I used to have extremely sad crying days when I would be like I can’t get this or that and then I knew I had to just make it myself
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Rafael Garcia-Suarez last edited by
@rgs it’s probably the time away from screens and the focus on something else that helps for me. Also helps that I like cooking and can often make something that I want but can’t easily get
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@skinnylatte Same with cooking elaborate meals as a part of self-care. Interestingly enough though for me it's just the other way around. While living in SF i discovered so many amazing dishes and when i moved back here, Switzerland with the most boring cuisine ever, i missed them and that made me sad. But then i started to cook them myself.
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@antiaall3s I once lived with a Swiss Italian guy who was super into learning how to cook Chinese food. We taught each other. Wonderful cultural exchange. He taught me more Italian than Swiss food tho
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Something I also love doing: when I’m cooking a specific cuisine (there are many cuisines I associate with home), I put on a playlist as well.
If I cook Indonesian food, my lagu galau Indonesian sad songs playlist comes on.
Malay food then there’s lots of Sheila Majid.
South Indian food has its own playlist.
Chinese food has all sorts. Thai too. Really helps me get in the mood!
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@skinnylatte I love when people express this perspective.
I don't have a green thumb but I can cook. I think the time feels like a way of honoring the fact that you're transmuting life into a new life giving form.
It feels like people associate a love of food as hedonistic but I think it's a way to acknowledge all that goes into the ingredients. When it's "just fuel" it feels stark and survivalist.
Cooking can feel devotional.
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Chad-Siberian Orchestrareplied to Adrianna Tan last edited by
@skinnylatte Have you read Sourdough by Robin Sloan? It features a sourdough starter that enjoys listening to music from its homeland and is set in SF
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Chad-Siberian Orchestra last edited by
@chad oh cool! Love the concept, except I personally dislike SF sourdough hehe
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@clarablackink yeah, part of this is also the push back against a cooking / food culture which is way more individualist and survivalist than I know. I have a lot of food and communal food as love and warmth and community and support that I’m trying to connect with or make for myself here
