how to create a sacred kitchen
Here’s my compilation on how you can become a ceremonial chef and cultivate a more mindful reverence in your relationship with food and create a sacred kitchen in your home and life.
Know exactly where your food comes from. Read labels, ask questions, and research sources for whole, organic foods in your region. Commit to purchasing 10% or more of food that is grown locally.
Consider becoming a community supported agriculture (CSA) member which allows you to buy directly from the farmer or grower.
Give thanks when you shop — thank the food you purchase, thank market staff, and give thanks that you have the money to shop and get what you need.
Mindfully plan your meals. Perhaps it won’t be possible for you to eat at home today or tomorrow or the next day because you are traveling or because of time constraints. Plan a strategy for eating in places where nourishing food is served or plan to bring healthy snacks with you.
Take a moment or two to stop before eating and give thanks for your food. Remember to thank the people who grew, harvested, transported, and distributed your food. Thank plants and animals for their lives and the sacrifice they made with their lives so that you can be fed. Even the busiest person can bow her head for a moment before her smoothie.
Regularly enjoy food with family and friends. Cook and eat meals together. Share the sacrament of food with each other in potlucks or other gatherings.
Occasionally share extra food or leftovers with neighbors or people who are not in your family or circle of friends. In a world of skyrocketing food prices and climate change, food “security” may become increasingly “insecure,” and sharing food with others communicates a subtle message that you are concerned about their well being in hard times. Reaching out in this way encourages reciprocity around food so that when someone has little or no food, others are more motivated to share.
Plant a window herb garden and harvest what you need before each meal.
When preparing to cook, clean off the counters — even a three-foot stretch, if that’s all you can do for now. Turn on music and pour a glass of wine or sparkling water before you start. When possible, involve the family.
Present meals family-style rather than plating up individual servings. As people pass food to each other, they connect more. Pause before eating and notice your mental state. Ask yourself what you want and need from this meal, both nutritionally and emotionally. Observe your body: how you sit, how you bring food to your mouth, how you chew. Are you comfortable? Are you breathing?
Notice when you are full and whether that fullness comes with a sense of satisfaction. Distracted eating may make you feel too full, but oddly not satisfied. Ask yourself if you might be longing for something other than food. If your lunch break is your only opportunity to catch up on email, and you must have your phone or laptop at hand, be creative: Take one conscious bite of food before attending, thoughtfully, to each message.
Schedule shared meals several times per week. Be mindful of work schedules and activities that present obstacles to dining together. Invite people to the table, rather than hollering across the house that dinner is ready. Try ringing a bell five minutes before the meal is served. If you live alone, invite friends over. Find a small group that likes eating together and rotate hosting duties.
Avoid unnecessary conflicts or criticism at the table. Heated discussions trigger the sympathetic nervous system, which shuts down digestion.
Remove the microwave, or at least minimize its use.
Declutter: Make the kitchen beautiful and peaceful, and keep it clean. Make it a reflection of sacredness. Replace worn or soiled dish towels and sponges with new ones on a regular basis.
Turn off the TV and other distractions. Start with just two nights a week of cooking and eating in silence. This sacred space is meant to increase your consciousness, not dull it.
Keep in mind (according to Native American teaching) that when you give someone a gift of food (either by cooking for them or giving them groceries), you extend their life. That should be a nice incentive for cooking an occasional meal at home.
Clean up consciously and with gratitude.
Treat your kitchen as you would any holy space. Have respect for what it creates and represents.
As with creating any habit, start small. Baby steps. As you start to realize the benefit of preparing healthy food, you will be inspired to do it again and again.
Don’t take nutritional advice as gospel.
Visualize your food nourishing your body before, after, and as you eat.
Ask your family what food they thrive on.
Gravitate towards food that makes you feel good.
Have fun when eating out.
Listen to your body.
What we eat is life. Honor it as such.
Quotes:
“Maybe the most sacred space in your home is not the yoga room, or the altar with the candle, or the chair by the window where you meditate and pray. Maybe the most sacred room in your house is the kitchen.” — Peter Bolland in his article “The Sacrament Of Food”.
“The way we eat is the way we live. How we eat is who we are. Let us affirm that which is best in us and in each other through the sacrament of food.” — Peter Bolland.
“Rituals can be a way to focus our intention, bringing us into the present moment.” — Megrette Fletcher, cofounder and president of the Center for Mindful Eating.
"Eating with awareness brings us into the moment, helps us understand what it means to be alive, and connects us to the mystery and the source of all living things." — Donald Altman.
"Laughter is brightest in the place where food is." — Irish Proverb.
“To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna.”
“Food not prepared with devotion, not prepared with the idea that it is to be offered [to God] in the shrine — but just devised impersonally for making money by people with their minds full of gross thoughts — can adversely influence your spiritual growth.” — Swami Vidyatmananda.
“To keep the body in good health is a duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to light the lamp of wisdom, and keep our mind strong and clear.” — Buddha.
“Begin to slow down. Sit in front of your bowl and put your hands around that bowl and hold it. Be thankful. You are beginning to start to have a relationship with food rather than simply consuming it as fuel. That is an unraveling of decades of misapprehension, misguided recommendations from governments and clever advertising” — Nick Bernard.
“The word ‘meat’ comes from the old english ‘mete’ meaning ‘food, nourishment, sustenance’.”
“Food is not just calories, it is information that talks to your dna.”
“Food eaten every once and a while is food. Food eaten everyday is medicine.” — Hakim Sh. Ariffin Yeop.