Lately, I’ve fallen in love with cooking again. It’s something I had always enjoyed but had stopped doing. During the period when I was in the darkest of mental clouds, I stopped doing a number of things. So now, I find myself falling for things that brought me joy - one of which is cooking.
The thing with me is that if I’m into something, I’m into it. I do not go in half or test the waters. I plunge myself right in the deep end. Nothing wrong with a bit of obsession about one’s passion.
It is interesting that the more I learn about chefs, the more I learn that cooking is not what we have been made to believe it is. I’m not referring to mother’s cooking, which usually has a sense of care and thought into it. I’m referring to the cooking that is done by most of us.
Most of us cook to eat. And others, who have deep pockets, do not even cook but buy takeout. Cooking, to most of us, is an afterthought; it is something we do because the body needs food. Fundamentally nothing wrong with this, but hear me out.
So it is interesting to watch or hear chefs talk about food. To them, food has a deeper meaning. They take great pride in how they cook food. A girl I was trying to date once, who was a chef, told me that a chef is someone who understands food preparation. The key word is preparation.
Back in the day, when I lived in a commune-like setting, sometimes we would sit in the kitchen as we cooked. I can recall how the guys would wash the chicken with water, cut the raw chicken to sizes they wanted and with the same knife cut vegetables for a salad or a side dish. I’ll be honest, back then, I didn’t notice the danger in that. It’s only now that I learn how dangerous the cross contamination between the raw chicken and vegetables is.
The same thing can be said about something as simple as braaing meat. If you go to a fine dining restaurant, the chefs in the kitchen strive to produce the best cooked meat for the patrons to enjoy as opposed to a fast-food chain. They do not care about the food.
I remember working at Spur. I vividly remember how they would microwave the chicken first before putting it on the grill. At the time, I thought these guys were saving time and ensuring that the centre of the chicken was cooked before serving it to guests. But now I understand why that Spur never sold so many chicken. The chicken would come out dry due to the cooking method.
It seems trivial what I’m trying to explain, but there’s beauty in how a chef prepares food. And I’m not necessarily referring only to Michelin star chefs. But chefs who respect and honour the craft of food preparation.
Ironically, I’m going to discuss the man of infinite aura who was a Michelin star chef in an attempt to discuss the beauty of chefs. It is said that for Macro Pierre White to create the greatest restaurant in Britain, he went to lengths that no chef would go. He expanded the wine cellar of his restaurant to have more wine than most restaurants in Britain. In the kitchen, he expected nothing but perfection in every dish. It was common, they say, that pans and sauces would fly in the kitchen if it was not made to his perfect standard.
Indeed, Marco Pierre White in the culinary world is what Michael Schumacher is to racing or Michael Jordan is to basketball. Both Michaels, like Marco, expected nothing but less than perfection. But in the culinary world, it is different.
It is food. It is what the body needs to live and survive. For someone to strive for perfection in what the body needs is beauty. With Michael Jordan, not everyone is as tall as he. Not everyone has the athleticism he does. Most people do not have the natural talents required to be a great sportsman, doctor, businessman or lawyer.
But I believe everyone has the qualities to be a good cook. Maybe not a good chef because a chef and cook are two different people. But everyone can be a good cook, I believe. Because at the end of the day, the body does need food to live.
And it is with this that I understand how cooking is regarded as a form of Zen practice in Zen temples. Because the monks in these temples do not cook as an afterthought. They do not cook, taking shortcuts just to produce something to consume. They are deliberate in their cooking. Because they understand that what they are cooking will nourish their bodies.
How beautiful it would be if we, too, began looking at food that way. That we looked at food the way a monk does? That we looked at food the way a chef does? That we looked at food the way a mother does before feeding her child?
Yes, we might not produce restaurant-quality food. Heck, we might not even produce fast food quality food. But we will have, I believe, a deep appreciation for the food we consume. We won’t be like my former roommates who chopped raw chicken and raw vegetables with one knife. We won’t be like the “braai master” who cooks rock-hard meat because, to him, that’s how meat should be, without considering the needs of others.
From Gordon Ramsey to any well-established chef, their priority is to deliver the best quality food to costumers. Personally, I do not believe in the social media lie that the best food comes from slightly unhygienic food outlets. Those places have no regard for the food they are serving to people.
This is different from that old lady who buys low-quality food ingredients but produces the best food possible from those ingredients. They respect the costumer by ensuring the kitchen is clean, the utensils are clean, and the entire cooking of the food is done in a clean manner. As opposed to the person who may buy quality ingredients but is unclean. The cloth they use to wipe plates is the same one they use to wipe the knives they use. You walk into their establishment, and there’s random filth scattered everywhere. This person has no respect for food or those who will eat it.
It's like going to a car wash. Most people will settle with a car wash from the guy down the street because he is affordable. But in their affordability, they perhaps use sunlight to wash your car. They are washing your car with an old vaslap. They are washing your car from the tyres up. They are applying car polish under direct sunlight. But because this person embraces the spirit of “hustling” and perhaps has a nice sound system set up, most of us can accept this subtle destruction of your car’s paintwork.
The same with food. And food is more crucial as it keeps us alive.
Falling in love with cooking is making me appreciate what I put in my body. It makes me remember why, in my initial weight loss journey, I had a fascination more with nutrition than I did with working out. Also, it is teaching me how to pay attention to detail.
Marco Pierre White states that perfection is doing small things well. And herein lies the meditative attribute of cooking found in Zen temples as well. Because a chef is concerned with properly done food preparation. Taking that extra second to ensure that the onion is chopped in the dimensions desired, that the right amount of salt is in the meal, those fine details so overlooked by most of us, therein lies the beauty of cooking.
Again, this is not for all of us to chefs. That’s impossible. What’s possible is for us to pay attention to what we eat. Because at the end of the day, if you are not gauging what you allow in your body, how then can you gauge what you allow in your mind?
Yes, it gets deeper because the maxim we are what we eat does not only mean obesity comes from fast food. It means that if we pay attention to what we eat, we then can pay attention to what we allow in our minds.
Think about it. Top chefs have adequate physiques because they respect food and, in turn, respect their bodies. People who merely cook to eat eat as they please and their bodies look as they please.
Food is one of these aspects of life that most of us overlook. I believe that if we begin to pay attention to what we eat, we will begin to pay attention to other aspects of our lives. In turn, we will begin a life in a new light.
Comments