the intuitive cook

8. the intuitively cooked meal

Week 8: Key Takeaways

This week and your journey from here on is all about combining everything we have covered over the last seven weeks to create meals that are intuitive in some or every sense and therefore fun to cook and delicious and satisfying to eat

You can start with the ingredients, the mood you're in, your physical/emotional needs or the kind of cooking/eating experience you want to have

• Honing your intuitive connection to food means it will be increasingly accessible to connect to those different factors, and sometimes one will dominate, sometimes not

  • And you now have a mood for every ingredient/method or an ingredient/method for every mood!

• And depending on the meal/day etc, sometimes I lead with one, sometimes I lead with the other. More often than not it's an intuitive combination of various influences

  • At its most intuitive, you may not even be able to pinpoint which factor is leading you, but rather trusting your gut and intuition to guide you without logically having to reason it all out

• Meals don't always need a focal point (the meat and veg paradigm is very restrictive) or to be a specific category of main dish

  • For me a meal is a set of curated elements to satisfy me and that could be a focal point, a one pot/tray cook or a collection of things cooked and combined carefully to make a plate of deliciousness

  • The joy and deliciousness is more important than engineering the composition of the meal and more instructive in terms of satisfying yourself intuitively, mind, body and soul

Steps along my 'process':

• What ingredients do I have / are in season / do I fancy?

• What sort of eating experience do I want?

  • Comforting?

  • Refreshing?

  • Warming?

  • Hearty?

  • Satisfying?

  • Energising?

• What sort of cooking experience do I want?

• It could be your mood, the weather, the time of year that determines all of the above

  • Then the answers to the above questions can help to determine choice of ingredients, herbs, spices, cooking methods, texture

    • This course has given you the tools you need to navigate these choices and kick of the process of harnessing and connecting to your intuition 

  • And remember, we have an intuitive connection to all the factors at play going through this process—starting to listen to those intuitive signals and ending up with a natural, effortless and joyful way of conceiving, preparing and eating food is precisely why we are here!

• When I have a loose idea of what I’m going to be making, I get cooking and let myself adjust and add or redirect as I go

  • And at each stage checking in on the experience factor: my mood and physical/emotional state, the areas of texture and balance, the intuitive satisfaction...

• And in no time, hey presto a tasty meal that was fun and sensory to cook and is not only delicious but personally crafted to fit my needs and mood so is insanely satisfying and nourishing mind, body and soul!

• Becoming naturally intuitive in the kitchen is a process

  • There’s no failure!

  • You’re always succeeding either through learning or eating incredibly tasty food!

    • Let your senses and your intuition guide you and eventually the outright successes will outweigh the learning opportunities

• Start with you. What matters is:

  • You have natural and intuitive ways to connect to your body and seek nourishment that satisfies you on every level

  • You enjoy cooking (and it’s not stressful) and get more than just a meal out of it

  • You enjoy eating what you make, it nourishes you, and you have the tools to make this true for every meal—meaning your complement of eating will nourish you holistically

  • Where things don’t go as expected (but we don’t have expectations do we...), then look for the opportunity to learn, develop and hone your intuition even more!

• Check out my book: Ten Steps to a More Joyful Relationship with Food for even more ideas on ways to cultivate this intuitive connection to food, cooking and yourself, outside of the kitchen!

Week 8: Exercises

Now it’s over to you! 

• You can start to incorporate cooking more intuitively when and how you want to, and let it grow and develop over time

• There are a number of ways you can inject more intuition and joy into your cooking time

  • Jazz up your veggies or add some intuitive magic touches to a simple meal

  • Start to be more mindful when cooking with recipes, use your senses and intuition rather than relying exclusively on the instructions. Notice concepts, techniques and flavour pairings you like and bank that information for future intuitive cooking adventures!

  • Freestyle an entire meal using what you have in the house

  • Plan your meals and shopping lists a little less—choose some of your fresh produce from an intuitive and seasonal perspective and then create meals from scratch using the tools and concepts from the last seven weeks!

• You’ve now got all the tools to start exploring your natural, seasonal and intuitive connection with food and cooking... Enjoy!