I love cooking, and I do cook often, but I'm not a master chef even though my grandchildren may think so. Since my retirement, I have spent much of each week in the kitchen. I enjoy preparing breakfast for my wife and I, making sure that each breakfast is different from the previous morning, and sometimes surprising her with an out of the norm breakfast meal. As the culinary dishes I cook are usually for our ourselves, and for our youngest grandson whom we care for once a week, I would often portion out and freeze the cooked meals, if it is not specifically prepared for our evening dinner. On occasions, when I feel adventurous, I would look up my library of culinary books and try a new recipe. It could be a new and untried recipe from the cookbooks by Jamie Oliver or Rick Stein, or some other celebrity chef. Or it might even be from an old handwritten recipe from my late-mother's hand-me-down recipe digest.
Source: frommydeskathome (Cooking the evening meal)
In preparing this month's essay, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a positive correlation when cooking and associated health benefits in relieving stress. An article written by senior clinical nutritionist Hannah Dalpiaz stated that making a home-cooked meal is not only a way of getting the proper nutrients and nourishments, but it also provides the opportunity to get creative. Other articles on the subject suggested that cooking (or baking), allows us to recall memories of bygone years when smelling the aroma of food similar to when we were children, or when our 'sweetheart' first tried their hand at baking biscuits for us. For those who like to travel but can't, cooking also provides the opportunity to experience the cuisines of places we are not able to travel to.
The first culinary book I bought was Charmaine Solomon's The Complete Asian Cookbook. Over the years, after trying the various recipes from the book, I have cooked my way to India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Philippines, and China. More recently, from a number of Rick Stein's cookbooks, I have cooked cuisines from Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. With regards to Jamie Oliver, I recall cooking his traditional English shepherds' pie, and used a recipe in Jamie's 30 Minute Meals cookbook to marinate my lamb chops for barbequing on my Weber BBQ. All my meals never looked like the pictures shown in those cookbooks, but they turned out quite tasty, nevertheless.
Annabelle Short, who posted an article in Tribal Global, reported that people who take their time to finish small but creative projects every day feel more relaxed and satisfied with themselves. These people are happier in life, and they yearn for another day of life. Whilst this adage is applicable to any activity that you undertake, when applied to cooking a new meal or recipe. it is like a project you need to see to the end and savour it's success.
In the same article, reference is made to a 2014 Wall Street Journal article which reported how clinicians are using cooking therapy to treat mental health issues. Short writes, "If you do not have a mental health issue, you can use cooking therapy to relieve stress. Instead of seeing cooking as a chore, you can view it as a fun activity that can help you stay stress-free."
In many cultural settings, food brings people together. How often have you witnessed, been involved with, or even facilitated a gathering where food is being served? Food is a catalyst for people to meet and engage. Food connects people. And if you love food and have a passion for cooking, the best way of combining the elements of creativity, hospitality, love of people and food is to get into the kitchen and cook up a meal that, first and foremost gives you pleasure and will be a delight for your guests.
Today there are many venues which provide corporate team building cooking classes. These business have tapped into the psychology that cooking and food are great at enhancing the bond between people. Not only does cooking for friends and family make you feel happy, it also galvanizes the relationship we have for one another. When barbecuing for example, as the 'chef' your aim is to provide a flavoursome steak, while at the same time joining in with the conversations and laughter that surrounds you, be they football mates or family.
Source: frommydeskathome (A corporate team building cooking class)
Cooking together with people can also develop and build team work. While a corporate cooking class is different to a group of friends or family gathering around the kitchen bench, if the dynamics are right, the gathering will be 'coated' with fun, joy and laughter. If it is not, it could be a stressful event. If having too many people in your kitchen is problematic, then to avoid rising stress levels among all, it would be best if you avoid such an occasion. As corporate cooking classes are often under professional chef supervision, these classes can be quite entertaining, productive and fun occasions. Having been involved in such a class many years ago, involving over 20 team members, the proudest moment was when we all sat down to the meal everyone had a hand in preparing. We tasted every team's culinary effort and each one was full of compliments for the end result.
When I am cooking, I like to portion all the ingredients and spices separately on to a plate or in their individual cup holders. Then I'll start preparing, for example the julienne carrots, peeling and quartering the potatoes, and slicing the celery before cutting up the chicken pieces or dicing the beef. The sights and smells are a great way to engage all of your senses. Even the chopping of the vegetables and listening to the water come to the boil, or later the smells of the curry, stew or stock wafting through the kitchen can stimulate the senses. This heightened experience where sight, sound, smell, and touch are simultaneously engaged can temporarily allow you to detach yourself from the rest of your world and may even trigger pleasant memories. Cooking under these circumstances is a therapeutic way to relieve stress and give you an uplift in your mood.
Source: frommydeskathome (Ingredients prepared and portioned out before cooking a recipe from Charmaine Solomon's cookbook)
While admittedly I have to follow a recipe to cook a new culinary dish, I have been experimenting with different vegetables and sauces when it comes to dishes I am familiar with. Mental health studies have shown that engaging with general creative activities can have physiological effects that reduce stress. Incorporating creative ways in cooking, whether it is by recreating a favourite dish with different ingredients or baking a cake using different moulds and decorating it creatively can be a beneficial way to reduce stress levels. By stimulating different parts of the brain, you are also promoting your mental well-being.
In the Dalpiaz article, she writes that while there is value in a nutrient rich meal, not everything you cook has to be "healthy." In saying that, Dalpiaz suggests preparing meals that you are excited about and interested in making, because if you are only cooking dishes you know, you may not enjoy making it, let alone eating it. What is supposed to be a stress-pleasing activity can turn into a draining and overwhelming experience. Often this can be the case when the person preparing the family dinner is indifferent about what is being presented. Simply dishing out each day the same menu of mash potatoes, baked beans, and beef silverside would not be an enjoyable experience. Not that there is anything wrong with mash potatoes, baked beans and beef silverside. Perhaps just not served every day!
It is very important to cook something that will make you happy. It is not only the meal itself, it may not even be the cooking process, but it should also include whom you are preparing the meal for. Even if you are making daily meals for the family, be happy about cooking it, because they can taste the love in the food. In fact it was French chef Eric Ripert who said, "When food is prepared with love, the people who eat it can feel that."
Remember, almost every culinary dish can be modified. For example, you could exchange pasta noodles for spaghetti squash, and there are many additions you can consider when making fried rice, even by just seeing what is in the fridge or pantry at the time. By slightly tweaking old family recipes, you can keep that emotional connection while maintaining or even enhancing its nutritional value. Legendary actress, Italian born Sophia Loren was quoted as saying, "The most indispensable ingredient of all good home cooking: love for those you are cooking for."
If the circumstances are right, involving children in the cooking process can also make the occasion a happy and fun-loving event. What's more, you are able to pass down your experiences to them just as one day they will remember the memories you've created with them.
Source: frommydeskathome (On a visit from interstate, my sister making pancakes with my grandson)
The last word on the therapeutic benefits comes from a March, 2022 article by Dr. Nicola Williams from the University of Leeds, titled Mental Health and Cooking. She writes that cooking interventions have been implemented in the therapeutic and rehabilitation of patients with cognitive and physical disabilities. The cooking skills, essential when carrying our daily tasks, utilises both cognitive and motor skills. These physical and mental skills have been assessed in relation to cooking abilities among patients with obstructive pulmonary disease (sometimes called emphysema or chronic bronchitis), patients with traumatic brain injury, those with cardiovascular disease and stroke patients. While research in this area is still in its infancy, a research paper on the Psychosocial Benefits of Cooking Interventions (Farmer et al, 2018) expresses the following, "As more detailed frameworks are developed examining the benefits of cooking interventions, it will be possible to explore the interconnectedness of psychosocial factors such as socialisation, self-efficacy and/or mood, as well as how those concepts interact with nutritional changes to lead to improved mental and physical health outcomes."
In conclusion, there are many more benefits to cooking than just satisfying our need to ingest food for nutrition and energy.
Happy cooking!
Steven
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