cooking as a therapy

[helenas]

Just can't help quoting the following from the

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/15/garden/15LIDI.html

"... While other women choose yoga or meditation to relax, Ms. Bastianich cooks. The prospect of throwing up her hands and ordering in is foreign to her.

"Maybe I felt that way once or twice," she said.

Once or twice what? A month? A year?

"No, once or twice that I can remember," she answered, smiling. "Cooking is good therapy for me..."

How many times, coming from work annoyed and exhausted, i dragged myself into the kitchen and in two minutes i was a new person.

Although, i must admit, it became this way only when my daughter left for college. So now every night  i'm not feeding the family, i'm cooking a romantic dinner for me and my husband. But in worst case, if i fail, take-out will do.

[Andy Lynes]

In the right circumstances, I find cooking very theraputic indeed. If I am not in the mood to cook however, I can understand how a lot of people find it a chore.

Tonight I will cooking bacon wrapped chicken legs roasted with thyme and lemon butter, braised chicory, mushrooms and crispy shallots, followed by cheese and washed down with a pleasant little bordeaux from the supermarket. I don't do this sort of thing every night of course, but once or twice a week it can be a real tonic.

[helenas]

Andy, thanks for inspiration: i'm stealing your dinner idea. I planned to have butternut squash crepes pie with chiles coulis, but it can wait. And for dessert is will be roasted plums with thyme-honey mascarpone.

[Holly Moore]

I once did a column "Zen and the Art of Vegetable Soup Making."

The whole process is theraputic / meditative, from selecting the vegetables in the market(s) to the peeling, dicing, chopping, stirring, skimming, tasting, to ladeling out a steaming bowl, the contemplating and, eventually the slurping.

[nyfirepatrolchef X]

Sometimes yes sometimes no....I lost several people Ive worked with over the years at the WTC...I spent some time working on the recovery as well.

There are days where I wish I didnt have to leave the kitchen...and others I just dont care if its even there.

[oraklet]

my kitchen is my castle.

[cakewalk]

I find cooking to be great therapy. I think it's partly (if not largely) a matter of control. When I'm cooking, I'm master. No one tells me what to do in my kitchen. It is rather exhilarating as well as soothing. And in the end, there's a sense of accomplishment and there's the proof of the pudding!

[stefanyb]

I think it comes down to "what is work, and what is not-work?"  Just like what defines stress, its all a matter of personal preference.  Stress for me may be excitement for you or vice versa.

So, at what point is cooking a chore vs. therapy? and what factors determine this perception?

[Ruby]

Cooking is therapeutic. A good friend of mine told me she's just like her grandmother when it comes to food because she shows her love for people by cooking for them.

I used to love to putter around and buy ingredients at the farmer's market, then to the bakery and Balducci's and then to put it all together in the kitchen. While cooking, I'd put on some old 30s and 40s American and British band music, have a couple of glasses of wine and feel totally happy with the world. The wine helped the therapy and there was no charge for a 45-minute 'hour'  

[Ruby]

Sometimes yes sometimes no....I lost several people Ive worked with over the years at the WTC...I spent some time working on the recovery as well.

There are days where I wish I didnt have to leave the kitchen...and others I just dont care if its even there.

NYFire,

Yes, it must be hell for you very often in your firehouse kitchen-especially to see who's not at the table anymore. But I bet your presence and gift - yes you are very unique and special and it is a gift - is a comfort to your colleagues and I bet they look forward to chowing down and being together.

[nyfirepatrolchef X]

Actually the kitchen is my refuge at work...it is there to break up the frequent tedium of a 24 hour tour.

We didnt lose anyone at my house...but the photos of the member the Patrol DID lose as well as the member who left us for FDNY are in ample supply around the house.  

If I didnt step up and cook, someone else would, or most of the people would get take out.

Its when Im home that things get to me because Im alone.

[sweetpea]

My kitchen is my sacred space.  I grew up in Queens, NY to a mother who is Southern and dad who is Bangladeshi.  You can call me a mutt.

I have learned that the kitchen is that sacred place where miracles can happen.

I find cooking very healing.

I am the youngest in a large family. And I often find myself cooking meals for the gang.

Fireman, what kind of foods do you cook?

Am I wrong in asking questions as I get familiar with the site?

[researchgal]

Cooking is definitely therapeautic for me.  It's an incredibly warm feeling of "home" to me, to be in my kitchen, working away on a meal, getting lost in the process and then (hopefully!) creating something delicious at the end.  I also love the immediate gratification of creating something cohesive from all these different sources and ingredients.  

Of course, that's when I have the time to devote to it.  Sometimes it is just a chore to me, especially when it's late on a weeknight and I'm pressed for time.  

The only other time I don't feel like cooking is right after we've entertained a crowd for dinner, I usually need to take a break for a few days, but after a brief respite I'm always rarin' to go.

[VMBrasseur]

I'm relatively new to the cooking scene, but I've already noticed that it has theraputic value for me.  Keep in mind that I'm a skeptic for most forms of "organized" therapy (encounter groups, psychologists, etc.), so I'm not entirely comfortable using the phrase "theraputic value" in conjunction with anything I enjoy this much.  ;-)

When I come home from a long tense day at the office, it's very relaxing to be able to forget all the day's little traumae by diving into something as creative as cooking.  Sure, the stress of work will return the next day, but for a few hours it becomes easy to forget all of the boneheaded things which are going on there.

BTW, this is my first post.  So, um...howdy or something like that.

--V

[B Edulis]

Welcome, VM!

I really like cooking for a crowd every now and then. And I like cooking with other people, too. Is doing what you like theraputic?

I know right after 9/11 the only place I felt remotely okay was at the respite center on Pier 40, serving food to rescue workers. Something about being of service, and perhaps being surrounded by such strong, capable people calmed me.

[La Niña]

Maria,

I had a very similar response just after 9/11.  I had bought many pounds of peaches a few days earlier, intending to makes chutneys and preserves and such, and ended up making many, many peach pies, cakes, and cobblers and feeding them to folks in the neighborhood, the firemen, friends who came over, etc.  I couldn't stop baking.

[nyfirepatrolchef X]

Sweetpea~

offfff COURSE you should be asking questions!

Im on a limited diet so I have to make the best of my food when I cook.  For me...lots of fresh fish...Tilapia, Nile Prech, Mahi...sometimes dredged and fried, sometime, like the Mahi..grrrrrilled!

Otherwise lots of chicken..marinated and grilled.  Sometimes Ill dredge and fry too.  I also like to play with pasta and toppings/sauces....lots of veggies...fruit...Im getting around to making a baklava with phyllo dough I can actually use.  

Up til I started adding girth I was living on sweet potatos as a main veggie...now Im salad binging.  I love sweets...either roasted or even better...once in a while...sweet potato fries.

At work I make a nice bolognese...roast beefs, grilled steaks, my garlic mashed potatos go over well.  As do my french cut green beans with onion and tomato in olive oil.

Welcome and ask questions :)

[nyfirepatrolchef X]

B Edulis~

Nina~

Even though I wound up as one of the people helping out with food at Ninos, I was also one of the guys in the firehouses where people were kind enough to stop in and bring us a cake, a pot of soup, or just listen to us.  It felt incredible.

But can I make a suggestion...the events of 9/11 are headed toward the history books....but we're still out there in the City doing the job.  

Dont stop coming to say hi...you dont have to bring anything but yourselves.

[cabrales]

Below is a thread with discussion that I value considerably:

http://forums.egullet.org/ikonboa....43;st=0

[nyfirepatrolchef X]

cabrales~

and so you should...I added my input...thanks for the opportunity.

[msp]

This is my first visit to egullet, and my first post, so bear with me, please...

As is true for many of the writers here, cooking for me has long been a source of comfort, pleasure, relaxation...a way to nurture and show love. After 9/11 I helped the only way I knew how, by cooking for the workers. It wasn't much, and I got far more out of it than I gave. But once again, cooking allowed me to express myself, to give a little, comfort a little, and try to help take care of those who were taking care of us.

Cooking offers the cook and the diner/eater a nurturing, sensual connection, adn a simple, basic way of showing caring

This is true when I cook for family and friends on a nightly basis, when I host a celebratory fete, and when I deliver food to someone who isn't well.

[nyfirepatrolchef X]

welcome msp...

more and more Im running into people who gave if themselves to get involved.....whered you cook?

How are you now that its over with downtown?

Im really shaky without ninos to focus on.

It was a real oasis down there.  You walked in the door and suddenly the madness of the time was gone and you felt good and secure.

[msp]

I cooked first aboard the Spirit of NY, the ship docked at the site, then later at the Marriot respite center...although by the time we went to the Marriot I was more "heating up" then I was actually putting foodstuffs together to make them more enticing.

During that time, cooking there seemed to be the only thing that really mattered. Its like the rest of the world wasn't as real...the conversations I had with my children about homework and movies and lunch table politics; the poor attempts I made to get my work done...I went through the motions and none of it felt real.

Now, these so many months later, it all does seem real again. But my world changed, as did most everyone's, and I still think about some of the workers I spoke to, and one in particular who, in thanking me said "You have no idea what a hot meal means to me after 8 hours out there" and he squeezed my arm in thanks...and I know that meal we made for him was truly a respite...that the fact that someone cooked for him was more than the taste of the food or filling an empty gut...the food soothed his soul for just a minute

[nyfirepatrolchef X]

MSP~

In the days that followed 9/11, there was such an outpouring of support especially in the form of food...our firehouse kitchen looked like a bakery lol...and we had more pasta and stuff than we ever were able to eat...we had guys taking stuff home there was that much....and it might have seemed that sometimes we were going through the motions of thanking people...but believe me it was a blessing to have people making sure we were fed...so yes...you DO now know what it meant to us.  

If you want one mans insight on what was down there, dig into my postings in the member bios page...theres a post in there somewhere.

And yes its all very real now.  

Thank you for being there.

[msp]

Fire Chef,

Alas, if only I were more clever at navigating around! I did manage to pull up your member bio, but not the postings. As last night was my first time around egullet, I wandered aimlessly trying to understand how and where to find things...

One night while cooking aboard the Spirit of NY, a fireman came in to the kitchen and asked me to heat up his dinner-- a dinner he had prepared for his whole crew of the most tantilizing, aromatic sausage and peppers, spaghetti, salad, a crusty loaf of bread...he brought several foil food service trays filled with goodies for his crew. I heated them up and brought them out, and the guys at the table, i sensed, were home for that little while. They were eating the foods they ate at the firehouse, and that must have been a great comfort. In fact, it was the only time i remember hearing laughter.

So it is not just cooking that is therapy...we humans have long known that food can comfort and assure as well.

How often do you cook for your firehouse? When you do, are you usually cooking for 30? And do you have to prepare foods that re-heat well? You mentioned a couple of times about having to cook with awareness of dietary restrictions...are you trying, in general, to keep the food you prepare basically healthy, or do you have to prepare different dishes for firemen with specific dietary restrictions? (And by the way, is it politically correct to say fireMEN? Aren't there also firewomen-- and if so, what do we call the collective group??Tell me its not firepeople!)

MSP