Simplicity of Cooking
Thomas Moore on the simplicity of cooking from “The Art of Simplicity” audio book:
“I find that cooking is one of the most rewarding, simple things to do. I am not terribly good at it, but I know that to cook in the family can offer a great deal of anxiety about whether you are going to burn things or get everything ready on time, but it can also offer great pleasure. It does something for the heart; it does something for the family, to cook. I notice that as I cook I am aware of the individual tastes of each family member. So there I am, spending perhaps an hour cooking dinner, full of thoughts about the family, about the children, about my wife, and myself. And that alone is of great value.
Another advantage of cooking, other than thinking about the family, is to be very close in touch with the home; the kitchen, for one thing. The kitchen is one of the most soul-centered places in the whole home. And yet I think that many of us do not know our kitchens very well. You do not know them [the kitchens] until you cook in them. You get to know where things are, where you put things, where utensils are and what they are for. You get to know your world, and that is a very, very important thing. As you cook you have time to contemplate, it is another form of contemplation: Watching those vegetables simmering in a pan, going to a cabinet and getting the oil and spices you need for cooking, pulling down a book of recipes and contemplating the recipe, trying to figure it out and seeing how to do it, deciding whether you are going to follow the recipe strictly or not. All of these things offer a form of very ordinary home contemplation, and I think that this kind of contemplation is irreplaceable. It is very important for the heart, because it is the kind of contemplating that allow you to withdraw from being hyperactive and at the same time connects you to the world around you and your family.”