Intuitive Cooking

Intuitive. Is it a gut feeling? An instinct or inclination? Intuition - the feeling of being sure without reasoning with ourselves. It is a deep knowingness, unaware of our knowingness. Intuition is the bridge between the conscious and unconscious parts of us. It is the unconscious part of us, the one that just “knows.” Intuitively, mothers care for their young. Intuitively we feel it’s not safe to walk in an empty parking lot alone in the dark.

I was one to struggle a great deal in the kitchen. I have been passionately engaged in cooking and baking for at least 13 years as of the date of this article. Yet I’ve felt stifled in the kitchen, caused by the feeling that I had to cook just the way someone else was showing it, that I had to cook exactly as I was reading it, or make it perfectly authentic to the country’s origin. It was as if I was afraid of making a mistake (God knows I have made many “mistake” dishes!). I also felt I needed to have the recipe before getting started, whether it was from the internet or from my home recipe book I use to save my favorite items. This way of “being” stifles all joy of cooking. Sure, in the beginning, following recipes and how-to’s can be an excellent guide to learning the basics of cooking, of cooking certain cuisines, and learning kitchen and culinary skills. However, once we’ve walked that path, there is a new path we ought to explore – that of intuitive cooking.

I want to introduce to you how to cook intuitively and how it has changed my life. Not only do I no longer sit around reading an extensive report of a recipe, or slap my thigh when I am missing an ingredient I feel I “need,” nor do I waste time cooking from a recipe. Instead, I cook intuitively. I add things I think will go nicely, adding the quantity I feel is good, many times making meals my own.

Once we know the basics, the kitchen is at our fingertips. Take Indian cuisine for example. Preparing Indian meals for my family over the past 10 years has given me the foundation I need to explore on my own. The concepts of simmering spices in oil until the aroma appears, sautéing onions and tomatoes for an extensive length to achieve a beautiful curry, or the use of turmeric in quantities of a tsp or two are some of the basics of Indian cooking. If I wanted to add cumin seeds for a cup of vegetables, I may use more cumin seed should I have three cups of vegetables. Do we need to measure? Not at all. Look at your food and see what “feels” good in the moment of cooking your meal.

Ayurveda teaches us to cook in a way that brings healing to our body. If we know we have an imbalance within, we may decide to exclude certain items from our cooking that day in order to prevent an increase in our imbalance. If it is cold outside, for example, and we are already experiencing cold like symptoms, we would not want to use coconut oil for our cooking as coconut oil is cooling to the body and would only increase our symptoms.

Intuitive cooking brings us back to ourselves. In its unconscious characteristic, it brings consciousness; awareness to the moment, to the food we are lovingly preparing, to our body and mind as we become aware of its needs as well as those of our family members.

Intuitive cooking has been inspired through Ayurveda. Ayurveda teaches us to look at food and life and the rhythms of nature. As with nature, we are always changing. Not a single day is the same as the next. We reflect nature in our mind, body, and soul. The Sanskrit word for body is sharira and means “that which is always changing.” Ayurveda teaches us to cook following nature and its changing rhythms – to cook with an uplifted and positive attitude, basing choices on your current state of health, the condition of your digestive fire or agni, and the season and environment in which you’re in.

Welcome to intuitive cooking. Where your dish does not need to look like someone else’s. And while authentic cuisine is something I have always, always strived for, it no longer binds me. Cooking is love. Cooking is an art. Cooking is sacred. It is the very thing that nourishes every part of our being and should be explored with light heartedness and joy. Do it lovingly, do it gracefully, and do it intuitively. Let creativity come out of you, and you will see a new love for cooking emerge.

I look forward to sharing the food I prepare in my home and videos exploring intuitive cooking as the future unfolds. Will I share it in the form of a “recipe?” I am not sure. I have created recipes in the past and may continue doing so as a guide for you or I may do what I love to do most in my home recipe book and that is to list the ingredients and let you have away with it.

Journeying together,

Kari