A Meaningful Reminder About the Power of Cooking

Sharing a thought from our friend, Bill Penzeys

Women preparing dessert after a town gathering during the Depression. Such events provided a much needed, and socially acceptable way, for proud members of the community to have a decent meal for themselves and their families, as well as a respite from the country’s troubles. Photo credit: Russell Lee, Library of Congress WPA’s Farm Security Administration holdings.

The morning’s mail brought a message from Bill’s newsletter that mingled, as always, with a shoutout for a few of his incredible spices. I’ve written before about how his outspoken way of mixing his spice offerings with politics has met with sustained outrage from people I can only fathom take food and cooking for granted. Food is intrinsically political, cooking an intimate counterpoint that, knowingly or not, we embrace every time we enter a kitchen to prepare a meal for ourselves and especially others. What he wrote today is an extremely timely reminder in this fraught historical period of the strength we employ every time we share a meal.

And cooking is caring, cooking is kindness. Before cooking we had tools, and with tools strength became the ability to drive others away from scarce resources. Then one million years ago we began to cook and everything changed. Through cooking we discovered our humanity, through cooking we discovered real strength isn’t in driving others away, but in welcoming others in. It’s this very same welcoming in and embrace of our immigration nation status that took us to the heights of world leadership.— Bill Penzeys