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| ISSUE NO. 680 |
| AS WE CROSS THE THRESHOLD . . . of the mid-point of the winter, we can feel the energy of this turning point. From the depths of cold weather and unpredictable snow or rain, we can start to feel the glimmer of more warmth and light each day, as we slowly crawl our way out of the chasm in search of the prolific life that Spring promises. These cycles of darkness and light can be used as a metaphor for so many things. The long held grief that becomes a part of life, like the marking of a decade since Dor's mom passed, or the fresh awareness of circular time, as when Tay's family said goodbye to their beloved dog, Chickie (aka Vanah, Chicken the Dog, Chicken Piccata, Chick Chickerson). Each chink in the wheel reminds us what we know in our bones: that there is a more beautiful and bountiful way to operate in the world than we are promised by the dominant systems at play. Those systems tell us over and over again that more is better, that one must follow a formula for success, and that getting there faster is more fruitful. We see how this race to 'the top' is not a pinnacle, it's actually an abyss. And we strive to stay connected to everything from the sphere of our minds and hearts outward, into our homes, families, communities, and around the globe. (For more on this 'inside out' approach, there are so many resources you could tap into, but Monique Melton's framework from the Unity Over Comfort program is a great place to start.) This month, we want to apply that lens to something near and dear to our hearts and kitchens: the cookbook. We'll be talking about it all month - and have a surprise guest coming by in this space to answer your questions (more on that below) - but we're starting with where we are today, which is squarely in the gray area between appreciating the proliferation of a type of book that offers so much value...and curious about the consumptive cycle of that same proliferation. For both of us, cooking was a portal for understanding how to develop skills, create things with our hands, and care for each other by sharing nourishing food, crafted with love. Cookbooks helped to spark that curiosity, from our earliest days watching adults flip through the ones on our home shelves, helping to read out ingredients to them as they cooked, and begging to be allowed to follow one of the steps with our own two hands. Over the years, we've observed how the publishing industry has impacted cookbooks, turning these offerings that can be downright spiritual in their intentionality and care, into something more formulaic, speeding up the sometimes priceless hours of creation into an affordable package to spark hungry buyers, and prioritizing content over connection. Before you start the hashtag #notallcookbooks, we will be the first to admit that not only do we love and cherish this part of the book buying world, but we continue to participate in the cycle of consumption around them. And that's why we're taking some time in the depths of winter to cover this topic - because it's meaningful to us as we participate in shifting seasons, shifting generations, and shifting culture, to stop and ask: if we are consuming them without incorporating them into the fabric of our daily lives, how can we better understand that process in order to transform it? If a recipe is in a cookbook and nobody every cooks it...does it fill anyone up? We're excited to explore some answers to our questions, but while we're at it, we want to hear from you: Does this resonate, or do you have the opposite experience? Has your relationship to cookbooks changed over time? What do you find most nourishing about the act of cooking and/or the use of cookbooks? Are you a cookbook author, or do you dream of being one? What are your barriers to more connected time in the kitchen? If you could reimagine individual or collective relationships to cooking and/or cookbooks, what would they look like? Send us your answers and questions (if this only sparks more of the latter for you). Thank you for being in community with us, Tay + Dor |
tidbits...resources on anti-racism, environmentalism and food culture AKA stuff we're reading / listening to / watching / noticing / thinking about / captivated by this Tuesday . . . |
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