One good thing our shelter in place has given us is time! The time to look at and appreciate the little things in life. And the time to learn new things. Which for many of us has included learning the art of cooking, and the lessons learned from cooking.
Browsing a plethora of recipes that look easy, but later prove to be not so easy can make us feel that we’re just no good in the kitchen. But like any other skill, the art of cooking can be tough – but it is 100% rewarding once we get into the swing of things.
The rewards come with our openness to the lessons that can be learned from cooking, make mistakes, and have fun along the way. The good thing about cooking is it gives you time to take in each moment in and think about life outside the kitchen too!
So apart from enjoying deliciously burnt meals, here are some life lessons we learned from cooking.
1. Just a little patience
When cooking, it’s tough for us impatient folk to stand in front of the burning stove, constantly wondering, ‘Is it done yet?’ Try this instead. Look at the bubbling water and the color-changing veggies in your pan and listen intently to the way they cook. In the art of cooking, a great lesson is to forget everything else and focus on the present moment.
This lesson learned from cooking can be applied to other parts of your life. For example, when you get impatient and want to get rid of bad habits overnight, or think you can achieve success in the blink of an eye. Try to enjoy the moment that is now, instead of constantly wondering about when it will be done.
2. To new beginnings… and the mistakes that come with it
When we start learning how to cook, we might expect we can follow a recipe to the T and make the best dish we ever tasted on our very first try!
However, a hard lesson learned from cooking is that we need to accept that this might not be the case. If it is, well, kudos to you! But the fact is – for most of us – things take time, and we rarely get it right on the very first try.
So the best way to deal with this is to accept that we might make mistakes and embrace the learnings – inside the kitchen and outside.
3. Lesson learned from cooking: Perfection is overrated
One life lesson that the art of cooking teaches us is – nothing comes out perfect. When you’re just starting, you probably can’t even grill toast just right! But fretting about it and assuming that cooking is ‘just not for you’ is of no help. Like they say – practice makes perfect!
And so we can apply this lesson learned from cooking in every day life too! We need to stop waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect opportunity, and the perfect person to come along. If we work with what we have, we’ll slowly realize perfection has always been overrated!
4. It’s okay to be clueless about what we’re doing
Ever stepped into the kitchen with your recipe book and ingredients feeling like a pro – just to realize you have to Google what ‘poaching your eggs’ means or ‘how will I know the potatoes have boiled’? Same here!
The fact is it’s PERFECTLY NORMAL to be clueless about what you’re doing when you’re a beginner at something. The lesson learned from cooking here is that the process and the result teach us more than our doubts can.
5. Lesson learned from cooking: Listening to our gut
The recipe tells you to add ‘salt as per taste’, but how are you supposed to know how much that is?! Well, no one really does. So listen to your gut and your taste buds while mixing and cooking.
The same applies when it comes to paying attention to our instincts in general life. The thing to keep in mind is – even listening to ourselves takes practice. The more we communicate with ourselves, the better we’ll be able to hear what our gut has to say.
6. Hard work always pays off
Just like dreaming about making the most delicious Thanksgiving dinner but not actually doing it (and ordering in instead) won’t give you much satisfaction, if you want something in life, you have to put in the hard work. It can be frustrating at first, but trust that there’ll be a good reward in the end. And whatever you make – it will be your very own labor of love you can be proud of!
7. Garnishing with a pinch of love
What no recipe tells us and what makes mom’s spaghetti so delicious is the ingredient of love! If you cook just for the sake of cooking, seeing it as a chore, the result will also be just for the sake of filling your stomach as opposed to the case of the yummies. So even if you’re cooking for one, pour some love into it and see the magical results.
Similarly, in life, whatever you do – do it with love and watch it transform into something wonderful right in front of your eyes.
8. Lesson learned from cooking: Discipline is underrated
A recipe might display the cooking time as 10 minutes, but if you’re a beginner or like to take things slow – you might take 30, and that’s alright!
In life, your friends or acquaintances might have reached phases you’re not even close to reaching. But that shouldn’t demotivate you. Take things at your own pace and keep your own end goals in mind, and you’ll slowly but surely get there!
9. Appreciating the ones that feed us
One of the greatest life lessons learned from cooking is that we’ve always undervalued how much time and effort goes into feeding other people. So be it your grandfather, your aunt, your sibling, or a roomi who loves to cook for everyone, don’t forget to tip them with loads of appreciation and love.
10. Messy is fun!
Last but not least, cooking, like life, is MESSY! So put some good music on. Pour half a glass of wine, and groove to the rhythm of the stove burner! Because having fun is the spice of life.
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