The Pleasure of Food

I grew up around food that I loved in a home filled with the flavours of my Ukrainian heritage.  There was so much dough, cream, dill and cabbage, so much garlic. It was so good. My grandma spent so much of her life with her hands in the dirt, growing fruits and vegetables for all of us. My mom is the queen of flavour, she makes the best lasagna in the world.  How did I get so lucky?  

Being raised in the warmth of nourishing food has given me so many memories and stories that make me smile and have shaped who I am. As a university student, I was famous for feeding my friends.  I would have them all over to my tiny kitchen for a Ukrainian Christmas feast.  I would spend my holidays preparing dish after dish with my mom.  All of that beautiful food would be bundled into my car to be assembled in my apartment for people that were dear to me. I had some stumbles, one year I cooked an 18 pound turkey which I thought was gonna take three hours to cook.  It actually took six hours and so we didn't end up eating our turkey until 10:00 PM that night.  We had so many kids, crowded and crouched in that living room, and we had so much fun waiting for our Turkey all night long and drinking wine and having a great time.

My kitchen today is much larger. The people around me are more dear to me than ever. My husband and children are now the lucky ones who are nourished by the pleasure I take in food.  My kitchen is spacious and bright with fresh flowers and a gas stove. I love my kitchen and I have invested time snooping through markets to find a crystal butter dish, a huge pepper grinder, wine glasses that sparkle with life, a pantry full of exotic spices and more. This kitchen is an arena of adventure for me. I explore the energies of the world through color, flavours and smells of recipes that I leap into.

This adventure has nourished my family in so many ways. It has created an energy of warmth and connection and gifting.  My teenage step-daughter just came into the kitchen to hug me, an acknowledgment of that gift for her body or her life. The boys and I laugh over their dad’s chicken failures before I came along.  My husband Anthony tried so hard to feed his kids well and it gives me deep joy to be this caring for them and for him.  

Cooking delicious food is my particular way of welcoming people and including people.  It is something I have taken the time to educate myself about, reading cookbooks in bed and exploring cooking blogs and YouTube. But anyone can nourish the people they love in a way that brings joy.  You can express these energies with takeout or in a much simpler way that works for you. The invitation is to care about yourself and those around you in a way that they can be cared for, whether it’s reading books together, laughing, playing games or anything that brings joy to your life and the lives of those around you.  

I love Access Consciousness tools because they're all about oneness and connecting you to what you're creating. Does the life you're creating include your body?  I wonder what you could create if food (and your body) became a source of pleasure?

Links to Julia’s favorite food YouTube Channels Blogs:

https://www.youtube.com/@bonappetit
https://www.youtube.com/@epicurious
https://www.youtube.com/@eater