Teaching turns into learning moments

This Spring Quarter, I was able to be a Teacher's Assistant for a cooking class at Bastyr University called Therapeutic Whole Foods cooking. I was thrilled for the chance to be a TA, mostly because i loved the class so much when i took it and now i was getting the chance to experience it again, but this time by shopping for the weekly menu and tasting the student's food each week.

The quarter is coming to a close, and I can honestly say that i got so much more out of being a TA for this class than i thought i would. Moslty because i opened my mind to listen to the messages that my body was giving me about the food i was tasting. In the end i think the students in the class taught me something about the way i was experiencing food.

A few things i learned about myself through this experience was how i learned about the importance of shopping for a cooking class. First of all, so much more fun to venture around PCC and collect items for the weekly menu than grocery shopping on my limited and small budget. I think that i have realized that i don't shop for myself the way i should, with my senses and listening to my hunger cues.

The most important thing i discovered this quarter was how food tastes differently based upon who is cooking it and the kind of intention and thought that goes into it. The class is set up so that each station prepares the same meal with the same ingredients. Myself and the cooking instructor sample the menu items from each station. There were so many times when the soup of one group tasted completely differnet from another, or the consistency of the bread was different based upon if they used egg yolk or egg whites. I loved getting the chance to share in the hard work and effort of each group and sit down to share their meal as a community of eaters and food lovers. I felt honored that they had prepared the meal and that i was to share it with them. This quarter i started eating some meat, after not having it for about a year. One day i just felt that my body was craving it and the students had preparred some organic grass fed lamb. We were doing a class on elevated needs and i couldnt help but think how my meat-deprived body was needing some elevated nutrient. There could be no better time than that day to allow my body to benefit from the nourishment of the love and nutrients the students had made that day. Since then, i have been trying all the food the class has prepared as a way to honor the messages in my body as well as the efforts of the chefs.

I think it is important to always pay attention to the way food tastes and feel in our body because of the love and intention behind it. I encourage you to begin seeing each meal this way and eat therapeutically even if you were the one who cooked the meal!

Happy cooking!