Cooking as a Living Art
Excerpt from: Cooking for the Love of the World
Awakening Our Spirituality through Cooking
by Anne-Marie Fryer Wiboltt
In my experience cooking is one of the finest and most important arts given to humanity. Through the art of cooking we sustain the activity of life, body, soul and spirit, in order for us to fulfill our life’s purpose and destiny. Nothing less!
The cook as artist sees how the activities in the kitchen flow together with the processes of the living world. In the kitchen we begin to cook with the ripe, so called end manifestation of cosmic and earthly forces, the roots, leaves, fruits, and seeds.
We take these foods and, through cooking, further enliven, enrich and transform them. With a deeper understanding for what is in progress and what wants to be expressed we create healthy seasonable meals.
We make dishes that embrace the dynamic of change; balancing the individual changing conditions and the changes in our environment. Cooking is surely a living art closely linked to the health of humanity.
The painter’s workplace is his or her art studio. The cook’s art studio is the kitchen. Before either one of them begins to create, they get their work place in order. The painter gets the canvas stretched, gets the different brushes ready and chooses the colors s/he wants to work with. Likewise the cook brings out cutting board, pots and pans, sharpened knives and utensils and chooses colorful ingredients for his or her creations.
Before starting both might have an idea of what they want to create. The painter might want to paint the mood of the moonlit seashore with gusty winds. The cook wants to make a meal that balances the cool weather of the day, the season of the year and decide on a warming, nourishing colorful stew and fresh baked muffins with side dishes of stir fried leafy greens and pickled beets.
Most importantly, as the painter paints s/he lives into the moon lit seashore with his or her whole being. Similarly the cooking artist goes beyond theories, recipes and techniques and lives into the activity of life itself. The cook penetrates the heart of truth from which all life originates and imbues his or her cooking with a liveliness and freshness that reflects this truth.
The painter will study color theories, art history, the warmth and coolness of the colors, perspective, lines, strokes and much more. The cook who approaches cooking as an art will also study and bring knowledge together with common sense, imagination and intuition in free exploration.
S/he will observe the secrets of nature and how and where the ingredients s/he wants to use originate. The cook would want to know what brought them into being and what forces and processes were active in the creation of theses foods.
S/he will want to learn about different cutting techniques and cooking methods, understand the effect of cooling and warming food and dishes, and discover how to enhance different qualities, tastes, and textures. Perhaps s/he is interested in learning about traditional and historical uses of foods or cooking styles and herb lore from the region s/he lives in. S/he might also want to learn about how to cook for different health conditions and temperaments and how to cook to support what s/he wants to become in life.
Green Rounds with Peanut Sauce
The green roll can be filled with colorful lightly steamed vegetables and similar fillings, as suggested for the rice and pasta rolls.
2 quarts of water
1 pinch of salt
3 big leaves of Chinese cabbage
3 big leaves of collard greens
1 bamboo mat (sushi mat)
Bring the water to a boil. Add salt. Blanch the Chinese cabbage leaves for 1 minute. Blanch collard greens for 4 minutes. Immerse the leaves in cold water to stop cooking. Cut the stem off collard greens and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
Place the Chinese cabbage leaves on a bamboo mat, with the inside of leaves facing up. Position leaves so stems face away from, and towards you, alternately. They should overlap to fit the mat. Place collard greens the same way on top of Chinese cabbage. Place stems horizontally from left to right on the bottom third. Fold in the end of the leaves on both sides. Use the mat to roll greens around stems tightly.
Remove the mat and cut the roll into 1/2 inch rounds. Place the rounds decoratively on a serving plate.
Peanut Sauce
1/2 cup freshly ground peanut butter
2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons ginger juice
Stir the peanut butter with tamari soy sauce and enough water to form a thick sauce. Season the sauce with ginger juice.
Excerpt from Cooking for the Love of the World
Awakening Our Spirituality through Cooking
by Anne-Marie Fryer Wiboltt
Cooking for the Love of the World:
Awakening our Spirituality through Cooking
by Anne-Marie Fryer Wiboltt
A heart-centered, warmth-filled guide to the nurturing art of cooking.
"Cooking delicious nourishing meals - with heart and soul - is easy, fast, and fun with this great guide. Everything you need to know is right here - along with exercises and experiences that will help you love cooking, love yourself,
and love the earth."
-Susun S. Weed, Author, Healing Wise
Order Cooking For the Love of the World in our Bookshop
Optimum Nutrition the Wise Woman Way - 3 CD set
Susun Weed at Green Nations Gathering 1996
Simple secrets of optium nutrition, beyond rules, beyond heroics. How find, choose, prepare, and consume nutrient-dense foods that build vitality, joy, and superior health. Follow digestion from start to finish, encounter the mysterious cell wall, and marvel at the microbes that feed you. Health-negative effects of vitamin/mineral supplements, problems with sprouts and juices, long-term difficulties caused by low fat, vegan, macrobiotic, and raw food diets.
Time: CD1/ 71:09 min. & CD2/ 73:56 min. & CD3/ 60:56 min.
Price: $30.00
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LOVE LETTERS
Hi Susun
While looking for natural therapy correspondence courses, I found and love your website. I have had difficulty deciding on a particular modality of natural healing, but am feeling more and more drawn towards herbs. I love the connection to the plants that you encourage, and would like to combine your spiritual approach with the more academic approach that most of the colleges are offering. I think that my lack of commitment to a particular course is due to the lack of spiritual connection they offer. In fact, they seem to take the spiritually out of healing completely, which I feel defeats the purpose.
Kind regards
Natalie
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