Zen Cooking
A practical guide to how to enhance the ‘chi’ of your kitchen
I had my father in mind when I was preparing an e-mail about this new book I picked up. Then I realized I would rather put it on my website and offer this information to anyone who is curious enough to know the chi of cooking and how clutter or unnecessary items in the kitchen can actually be detrimental to the cooking experience. Chi is basically a Chinese term that is loosely translated as energy flow, or the energy that exists according to an arrangement of elements. It’s also known as the vital life force. It is very difficult to translate some words directly from Chinese to English, so use your imagination. The following section, taken directly from “Zen and the art of Cooking”, by Jon Sandifer, will give you an idea of how the fengshui, or arrangement, of your kitchen and dining room can enhance or take away from the joy of cooking.
“Zen cooking is a truly creative art, and there is nothing worse than having to create magic in a kitchen that is not functional, clean, bright and airy. Like any artist, it is inspiring to begin with a clean canvas. Making a fresh start with this new approach to cooking can be helped profoundly if you keep the space simple, orderly, bright, and clean. To maximize the potential of allowing fresh chi to circulate in the kitchen and all its recesses means taking a long hard look at the space.
Begin by making sure your windows are sparkling clean allowing fresh chi to enter the space for you to be inspired. In essence, chi has two qualities. It can be bubbly, fresh, alive, and healthy, which the Chinese call Sheng, or it can be stagnant, heavy, dark, clammy, or stuck, which the Chinese call Sha chi. The nearest natural elements to chi that we can perceive are undoubtedly wind and water. Noticing how air can stagnate in unventilated spaces, or how water can become a creek or an isolated pond, will give you an idea of what to look for. Stagnant chi in the kitchen is undoubtedly found in corners since chi moves in spirals and cannot circulate freely into the deep recesses of a right-angled corner. Get rid of all the cobwebs, dust, and oily patches where the ceiling meets the walls, where two walls join, in the backs of cupboards, behind and beside the stove, behind the refrigerator, and even behind the door if it is used infrequently.
At the same time have a good look in those cupboards. Old cans and jars of food that are well past their sell-by date or ingredients that you seldom use are simply adding to the clutter and attracting stagnant chi to them. Have a good look in the fridge as well, as this is a favorite hid-out for cold, damp, and stagnant chi.
Wearing your chi detective hat, take an objective look in the dreaded cupboard under the sink. It is surprising what you will find in there. Given that the kitchen is the source of our food, our blood, and our creativity, why do so many destructive elements lurk in the cupboard under the sink? You will probably find slug pellets, fly spray, ant powder, heavy duty bleaches, corrosive chemicals, as well as all manner of cobwebs, and even the trash can! Be ruthless in your clean out and designate all the “killers” to the trashcan or the garden shed or the garage, but please do not leave them in your kitchen!”