Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food.
The spirituality of food is undoubtedly older than organized religion. Its bounty means sustenance and survival. Its scarcity, death. As a physiological need, Abraham Maslow theorized that food is foundational to human motivation.
To secure fertile lands and rich hunting grounds, blood has been shed over millennia in war. And yet there is no better symbolism, the world over, than a set table to express the joy of solidarity and peace. Surely, how we think about food, and handle it, is basic to living a rich, healthy, and rewarding existence.
In The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters, founder of the famed Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkley, California, states plainly, “Good cooking is no mystery. … You need only your five senses.” This straightforward approach to food takes for granted what Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) meant when he said, “Learning implies a great sensitivity.”
Being present fully to yourself, and your life, requires awakening, and gradually heightening, the senses of your organism. There are few better or more satisfying ways to go about becoming more alert in body and mind than through the food you eat, and its preparation.
The journey back to her senses, for Alice Waters, has meant reducing cooking down to its underlying principles, which, she believes, are the same everywhere. Begin with fresh ingredients, and fix them simply. What is to be consumed should be sensed completely, from shelf to plate to mouth.
If, as the saying goes, ‘You are what you eat’. I think we might also say, ‘who you are is how you eat’. The ordinary, everyday presence of food can be broken open to realize a profound truth: Bread strengthens the heart (Psalm 104:15). But all should be done in a manner that honours God (1 Cor. 10:31).
To approach breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a spirit of total cognizance, gratitude, and care can restore our lives. It is an invitation for wisdom to come and dine in our homes. When we realize that food is both gift and promise; when we take the time to learn about and prepare what we eat properly, without waste and extravagance, but humbly, using taste and touch, sight and smell, and even sound—fresh garden zucchini sizzling in extra virgin olive oil, seasoned with pink Himalayan rock salt and crushed black pepper—we have embarked upon a “delicious revolution.”
Why should something so beautiful and essential become the center of a dull routine, a thoughtless activity, or perhaps a frantic and inconveniencing chore? Food is not merely for survival. It is the concrete, effective location for human flourishing. A life-changing shift in attitude for Alice Waters began when she was “young and naive.” You can begin with your next bite.
Alice Waters’ 9 principles of a delicious revolution: Eat locally and sustainably; Eat seasonally; Shop at farmer’s markets; Plant a garden; Conserve, compost, and recycle; Cook simply, engaging all your senses; Cook together; Eat together; Remember food is precious.
