Cooking is a Creative Activity
I love cooking.
Ever since I can remember, on Sunday mornings,
I would make breakfast for my family.
I loved home economics so much
that I even wanted to become a home economics teacher.
From the fourth grade, my father would
subscribe to 'Kyo no Ryori' for me,
and I would think about making this or that,
letting my imagination run wild while looking at the books,
and I would cook all sorts of things.
I still love cooking today.
Since it's my son-in-law's birthday today,
I've been making various things since the morning,
and I even baked a cake.
Why do I love cooking?
I haven't quite summarized it enough to say it in one word.
While having a conversation with GPT-chan,
I had it summarize
why I love cooking.
It feels a bit grand, but
well, is that how it is? Who knows.
That is the report.
[Reasons why Cecibon loves cooking]
1. A foundational experience that started from 'curiosity welling up from within'
• The starting point was 'wanting to eat/wanting to try making it' since childhood
• It was fun to recreate dishes while watching 'Kyo no Ryori,' and I approached cooking as an intellectual game
• Including my father's support (the subscription), cooking was a 'place where my curiosity was affirmed'
2. The intersection of creativity, thought, and sensibility
• I have an aesthetic sense regarding my relationship with 'tools' like knives and scissors, and the act of using my hands itself is a pleasure
• From the scent of spices and the sensation of cutting to the image of the finished product, my five senses and future predictions are working simultaneously
• Grocery shopping is also a 'puzzle-like design,' so I enjoy it even before cooking
3. Cooking as 'expression' = everyday art
• I don't cook when I'm busy because 'it's a creative act, not an obligation'
• When I have time, I 'want to make something elaborate' = output when my inner self is fulfilled
• Not using mentsuyu, not looking at Cookpad, etc., is an expressionism guided by 'my own aesthetic sense'
4. A relationship that evolves as a 'dialogue with the other'
• In my younger days, it started from a desire for approval, and 'delicious' was a source of self-affirmation
• Through meeting my son-in-law, I experienced 'tastes that didn't connect' and learned the difference between 'what I like' and 'others' preferences'
• Since then, cooking has deepened into a place of communication for 'conveying, matching, and harmonizing'
5. A style of passing things through 'my own hands' rather than a correct answer
• I never use retort pouches as they are; I always arrange them myself
• Even with finished products, there is a desire for self-involvement to 'add one more step of my own touch'
• Intellectual autonomy that does not deny 'convenience' but does not let go of 'initiative'
⸻
[In a word]
For Cecibon, cooking is
'A place that moves me, where creativity, thought, and sensibility intersect'
And,
**It is also 'a means to assemble my own world and reconnect with someone.'**
⸻
Because this axis exists, cooking continues to be 'something I love,' and
at the same time, I have a boundary where I 'don't do it when it's too much.'
To be more precise—
Rather than liking cooking itself,
because I can 'be myself' through the act of cooking,
and because it is **'a means to gently tune my current self and my relationships with others,'**
as a result, I have been able to love it for a long time.
⸻
• Can build at my own pace
• Can use both senses and logic
• Can accept both success and failure
• And yet, can also be useful to someone
⸻
That means, rather than 'I love cooking,'
**'I have come to terms with my own world through cooking.'**
Therefore—
It's not for others, nor is it a tool for self-affirmation,
**As 'a place where I can feel my own creation in the palm of my hand,'**
Cecibon is still cooking today.
Not bad.