Aug 3rd, 2023 Thursday Sunny
I generally like cooking. The process of transforming raw ingredients into tasty dishes is satisfying in itself, and cooking has the other benefit of helping me to economize – the cost of cooking a dish at home is much lower than ordering it from a restaurant, regardless of how fancy the dish is.
I see cooking as an experiment, and the recipe is the lab manual. There IS an expected result, but until you have really gone through the procedure yourself, you would not know how it would turn out (luckily the outcome is usually positive for me 😛 ). The moment of finishing a dish and trying a bite is always exciting.
Because of my fondness of trying new plates, I often check out cookbooks from the library. Some of them have recipes a little complicated with lengthy and time-consuming instructions that had me hesitate to put on a weekday dinner plan. Nevertheless, sometimes I happen to be in the mood, so I would prepare a ratatouille from a Southern French recipe, or a stuffed eggplant (called Karniyarik) from a Turkish recipe.
When I tell my parents about these dishes, they are both impressed and worried.
“That sounds so troublesome! Why not make something simpler? The nutrition will be the same.” says my dad.
“No need to spend so much of your precious spare time on cooking. Aren’t you exhausted after a whole day’s work?” asks my mom.
They are not wrong. There are days that I would be home later than usual, and all I want is an easy quick dinner (it still needs to be tasty though 😛 ). However, on days that I can allocate an hour or so concocting an interesting regional delicacy, I am happy to indulge myself.
In fact, many of the traditional dishes and desserts from around the world require a bit more patience. If you take the shortcut by using ready-made or canned goods, you would sacrifice the flavor and/or nutrition. Plus, you would miss the reward of watching fresh vegetables bathing and sizzling in olive oil, or the aroma of peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic stewed with ground beef.
I wonder, whether these recipes were intentionally long.
Eating is a central pillar of humans’ survival. In the past, in most of the societies, being able to have food on the table is essential, thus dinnertime is special. Food was more scarce, so every piece was cherished and furnished to bring out the best experience for the diner. People were not so calculating about their time, and the pressure to be efficient, a product of the industrialization, was not so high. Cooking was naturally part of life. Through cooking, people truly LIVED their life.
This week has been rough, to say the least. Both my husband and I had to cope with unanticipated life changes, in addition to collecting, analyzing, and digesting large amount of information. Yesterday, I was drained after coming home.
Yet when I started following the recipe and concentrating on each step, my mind was freed from all the anxieties and negative thoughts that were haunting me. Slowly, the stresses flew out of my body. By the time the oven signaled the completion of the Karniyarik, I felt peaceful and grateful, that I got to savor this healthy and beautiful supper together with my dear husband.
Cooking indeed has healing power, right?