My culinary journey: cooking as creativity

My cooking journey really began when I made the decision to go vegetarian in 2002. I wanted to ensure I was eating relatively healthy and getting enough protein.

I used to dread the effort of cooking and cleaning. Throughout my 20s, I struggled to find ways to make good food while minimizing cleanup time, reducing food waste, and spending less mental energy deciding what to eat.

With ADHD, I would often get caught in hours-long hyperfocus sessions, and by the time my hunger turned to hanger, I’d resort to convenient but unhealthy food choices.

I wanted to eat healthily and enjoy my food without spending endless hours in the kitchen.

The challenge was finding the sweet spot in planning—enough structure to be helpful, but not so much that I’d abandon it from overwhelm or exhaustion.

Here’s how my journey evolved, from resenting cooking to embracing it as my daily meditation, and how my goals and values changed over time.

Hoarding Recipes

GOAL: find good recipes to follow!

In the beginning I collected and hoarded recipe books and digital recipes, using pinterest and evernote to collect and catalogue my favorite ones.

I didn’t have much experience, but I knew how to follow instructions, so most days I was trying out new recipes, and it was a lot of work. I didn’t yet have a solid repertoire of low-effort and easy favorites that I could turn to.

Attending Classes

GOAL: learn how to cook healthy meals!

I signed up for various cooking classes over the years to try to build my overall cooking skills and develop more comfort in building flavor. I attended cooking demos and food fairs, signed up for an 8-week vegan cooking class, and participated in one-off cooking classes that explored specific cuisines, like Indian or vegetarian cooking.

Early influencers for me here were Meghan Telpner and Brigitte Theriault.

The classes were a good start, but it still felt like I was ultimately following recipes; I wasn’t understanding the building blocks of flavor (yet).

I loved food and loved exploring the different possibilities of meals, but I didn’t love how much time it took and how much clean up was involved. The kitchen was always a disaster after cooking. My husband was frequently in disbelief: “Did you have a food fight with yourself in here?”

Batch cooking + meal planning

GOAL: learn how to make healthy meals more efficiently!

Here I focused on developing meal plans and batch cooking routines to pre-make meals for a week at a time, and ensure I didn’t have to make so many meals from scratch every day.

I purchased various products (ebooks) and signed up for various online subscriptions and services to try to simplify and improve the planning process to help me further reduce time.

As I got comfortable with a repertoire of fave recipes, I was able to make a habit out of meal planning, and managed to commit to making Sunday my meal prep day. Eventually I stopped resenting all the time that went into cooking, and I started to enjoy it.

At first I started with simply making some of my fave recipes in bulk:

And that worked okay for a while… but pre-made salads don’t keep very long, and eating the same thing every day is not the most exciting thing. It began to feel like the meals were utilitarian; they got the job done. And that was great for a while.

Eventually I levelled up my meal planning again when I signed up for Rainbow Plant Life’s quarterly Meal Plans; these were probably by far the most helpful resource I have found in my path to meal planning!

This video shares how I was using Notion to help me manage this process:

After a year of making the recipes, I had definitely found my favorites, and realized that I didn’t need more recipes… I needed more confidence in being able to create meals without relying on recipes.

I began to refine my meal planning to focus on components over pre-made meals, leaving more flexibility and freshness.

It takes a lot of commitment and planning to actually follow through on meal prepping for the week, and I didn’t always have the energy or inclination every Sunday!

Building culinary skills

GOAL: learn how to build flavor, enjoy the process of cooking, and reduce reliance on recipes.

Cooking as meditation

GOAL: learn how to be more present in the kitchen.

Then in spring of 2024, I suffered a sports-related injury that severely limited my daily mobility. Simple movements like sitting, bending, or climbing stairs became excruciating, and my life slowed to a crawl. I had no choice but to slow down across all areas of my life.

In the kitchen, this limitation became an unexpected blessing. Unable to pivot or move quickly, I had to work slowly and methodically. My mise-en-place skills were put to the test as I carefully minimized my movements to avoid triggering shooting pain in my hip.

The more efficient I was with my mise-en-place, the less pain I would feel, and the fewer movements I would have to make. Though not completely pain-free, cooking did allow me to move gently while focusing my mind on a productive and engaging activity.

I gained an even deeper appreciation for cooking during this time, and began to see it as both a creative act, and a form of meditation.

I wasn’t able to garden intensively during that summer, so we signed up for a local CSA (community supported agriculture) and had a weekly delivery of produce from local farms.

My time in the kitchen became more about being present, appreciating the fresh ingredients I had access to, and expressing myself through exploring new and interesting ways to use seasonal ingredients.

The oppressive obligation to spend Sundays batch-preparing food melted away as I began looking forward to cooking as a daily ritual.

And hey, I can now make a meal without completely destroying the kitchen!

Cooking as a creative act

Looking back on my culinary journey, I’m amazed at how far I’ve come – from dreading cooking as a chore to embracing it as a daily creative practice. What started as a utilitarian need to feed myself healthily has transformed into something much more meaningful.

The evolution wasn’t linear. It required patience, practice, and a willingness to slow down and be present. Each phase taught me something valuable:

• Recipe hoarding taught me the fundamentals
• Meal planning gave me structure and efficiency
• Culinary education provided the building blocks of flavor
• Injury and limitation forced me to slow down and be present
• Daily practice transformed cooking from obligation to meditation

Perhaps most importantly, I’ve learned that the kitchen is a place where I can express creativity daily. It’s a space where I can experiment, play, and create something that nourishes both body and soul.

For those who still dread cooking or feel overwhelmed by it, I encourage you to be patient with yourself. Start where you are. Find tools (like Notion!) that help make the process more manageable. Take classes if you can. But most of all, try to find moments of joy and presence in the process, rather than focusing solely on the end result.

Cooking, like any creative practice, evolves. Your relationship with it will change as your life circumstances, priorities, and skills change. That’s not only okay—it’s beautiful. It’s a reflection of your journey.

As I continue exploring flavors and techniques, I’m grateful for how cooking has become more than just making food—it’s become a daily practice of mindfulness, creativity, and love.

What about you? How has your relationship with cooking evolved over time? I’d love to hear about your journey in the comments below.