Can Cooking Make You Happier?

Until last summer, I ran a culinary program for over five years straight, often working until 10pm at night. Cooking for pleasure was a rarity – I’d prepare a dish for a dinner party I was attending or bake a cake for a friend’s birthday. That didn’t mean I ate poorly. In fact, I was spoiled. I was fed delicious meals by my chef instructors and students late at night or I’d go out to eat in great restaurants. Students would ask me if I cooked my dinner every night and I’d laugh out loud. Like many people in the culinary profession, I ate odd meals at odd hours.

It wasn’t until I moved back to Seattle last fall, though, that I realized what I was missing. While in New York, I was surrounded by some of the best food in the world. And yet, I didn’t feel truly fed until I moved back home and ate my family’s cooking – and my own cooking.

For the first time in many years, I’m now cooking for pleasure on a regular basis – even though, for the most part, I’m testing recipes for my cookbook. Yet, it feels like pleasure because I run the leftovers over to my grateful brother and sister-in-law or cook for friends or my parents. Right now, I have dough rising for a pizza recipe and I just finished sautéing the mushrooms. It’s gorgeous outside – a well deserved sunny, 70 degrees in Seattle – and yet I don’t mind being inside kneading dough, listening to the birds chirp. It’s while making the dough – something I did a thousand times back in New York - that I remember why I fell in love with cooking in the first place. It is one of the only activities that slows down my overactive mind - I’m able to actually be in the moment and I feel more relaxed than I do during a massage (during which, for whatever reason, I stress about things I should be doing).

I keep thinking about what my 5 year old student, Tabitha said during the Sesame Street segment. Kids are so smart - only a small child could say something so profound while talking to a puppet. After being asked what it’s like to eat her own cooking, she says, “It feels good because you’re tasting the food that you made, instead of tasting somebody else’s.” Out of the mouth of babes!

I think that lately, we view cooking as a lot more difficult than it really is – maybe because of the sophisticated dishes that are always on television. Over the last 10 years, everything in our lives has become more complicated, including the culinary scene.

Cooking doesn’t need to be an all-day affair – adding to your already stressful lives. In fact, it can actually help relieve your stress. Even grilling a piece of fish and some asparagus and making couscous – all of which would take about 20 minutes, can do wonders to separate you from the busy, chaotic feeling of the workday and the relaxation we all need in the evening. I really notice a difference in how I feel both mentally and physically when I eat my own cooking. I feel more energetic, more nurtured, more satisfied - or, even that elusive word we can never seem to truly pin down: happy. I can’t explain it. I don’t have any scientific evidence. I just know it’s true.

I was talking to my friend, Alex, about this concept because he prefers his own cooking to eating out. And he said that for  him,  it’s a sense of accomplishment when he cooks a full meal - and he said that maybe it’s satisfying the human need to sit around the fire and share a meal like we’ve done throughout history. I had to agree. We have such overflowing Inboxes both at home and at work on projects that are never ending - maybe creating a meal from start to finish makes us feel like we accomplished something with our day. So, on top of eating healthier and saving money,  we can also add “feeling accomplished” and “happy” to what we get out of cooking at home.

So, try making a full meal for yourself and/or your family . It doesn’t need to be complicated, it just needs to be yours. Make note of how you feel during the time you prepare it, when you are eating it and the hours and days afterward. Perhaps all of this fuss and confusion about what to eat isn’t just about calories and labeling – it’s about how to nourish ourselves. And I think a good place to start figuring that out is in the kitchen.

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Since I try to keep these posts under 6,000 words (note: sarcasm), you can find a new recipe on my website, Lentil Salad with Sherry Red Wine Vinaigrette. It’s delicious! Enjoy.