Building Teams Through Cooking: The Essence of Team Building

Hi everyone, it's Nagai✨
What I felt at the lunch party the other day is that cooking has a power that goes beyond just "eating."
It is the power to connect people and build a team.
This time, I would like to talk about the "essential team building" I felt through cooking.

Cooking is the best tool to connect people

Cooking together.
And gathering around the table.
Within this simple act, there are actually many elements of communication packed inside.
By having someone eat what you made, it becomes an opportunity to learn about each other, like "Oh, you like this kind of thing."
In that process, you can see the other person's values and preferences that you wouldn't know just by talking.

Episode: The day I cried

At the lunch party, there was a moment where I couldn't help but shed some tears.
I myself ended up crying while talking in front of Anna.
At that time, emotions I hadn't fully processed overflowed,
and I feel like I realized that I hadn't been "accepting myself enough."

Furthermore, there was another wonderful participant.
She was in deep sorrow after just losing her beloved dog,
but she still came, saying she wanted to come "even just for a little bit."

With a face half-wet with tears, I introduced her to Anna.
When Anna said to her, "That must have been so hard,"
tears rolled down her cheeks.
At that moment, Anna said this in English:
"It's okay to cry, you're sad, so it's okay to cry."

That one sentence softened the atmosphere of the room, and it became a warm time where we all shared our tears.
It was a moment where I felt like it's okay to have "days where you cry."

What you learn through experience

Information seen with the eyes or heard with the ears inevitably gets organized in the head.
But touch, taste, and smell are different.Suddenly, they jump directly into the bodywith a certain sensation.
For example, the feel of freshly cut vegetables, the scent of spices rising from the pot,
and the conviction of "This is it!" the moment you taste it.

These are things you feel as a physical sensationwithout even having time to think and organize them in your head.
It feels as if I am walking a path that leads directly to sensation (lemma), bypassing theory (logos).

Deep experiences led by touch and taste

When cooking, parts of the five senses trigger such "unorganized experiences."
In that moment, the sensations of "delicious," "pleasant," and "this is right" connect beyond words.
I think this is the mysterious and deep experience felt through cooking.

The importance of not over-adjusting to others

What I realized through cooking is that "you don't have to force yourself to adjust to others."
For example, when working in a team, if you try to adjust perfectly to someone, you might lose your own self, right?

In the same way, I think it is important in cooking to bring your own individuality, saying "This is my specialty flavor" or "This is what I like."
How that individuality harmonizes with others is the fun part of trying it out.
The process of discussing "This was good" or "Let's do this next time" through trial and error is the key to building a team.

Realizing non-cognitive skills

At this lunch party, while sharing emotions through tears,
I felt the importance of "the ability to accept your own feelings" and "the ability to be close to the feelings of others."
These abilities are part of what are called non-cognitive skills.
I hope to talk more about this on another occasion!