Cooking while being well rooted in your body

It was with the emancipation of women in the 70s that the use of household robots became more democratic, created primarily for collective catering. The first slicer robot was born in 1963, invented by Pierre Verdun. Industrial designers then competed creatively to meet women's desires to reduce meal preparation time. Today, the kitchen regains its letters of nobility mainly in its direct link to the land we seek to protect. It is no longer the only territory of women nor that of the culinary arts and combines the values ​​of ecology, ethics, cultural heritage, the history of the terroirs and benevolence to the Earth. .

This holistic relationship to food has always been present in Zen practice. In Master Dogen's text, Instructions to the Zen cook, written in XNUMXth century Japan, each daily task is a way to reconnect with our deep nature and with the living. Thus, staying in contact with the ingredients, feeling the weight of things, cutting, grating, all contribute to nurturing this bond of non-separation.

In Soji-ji, one of the two main temples of the Soto school, where every year fifty monks begin their cooking training, the morning takuans (dried white radishes) are cut by hand. Their thickness will determine the end of each person's formation, their regularity revealing the spiritual state of the monk carrying out this task. The same is true of how an apple is peeled with only one peel or how a cucumber is spirally cut without splitting. All this testifies to the practice of the one who exercises it. The gesture expresses a continuity of the spirit in harmony with the action. Subject and object merge to unify.

Convenient :

In our kitchen, we can contact this reality of unity by cooking.
Also for this culinary suggestion, I suggest you try measuring a glass and forget about the scientific measurement of your scales.

In Master Dogen's text, Instructions to the Zen cook, written in XNUMXth century Japan, each daily task is a way to reconnect with our deep nature and with the living.

Cereal: quinoa
Dish: sautéed vegetables with red cabbage and chickpeas
Crudités: grated celeriac crudités with horseradish sauce or mayonnaise

Pour 4 personnes:
– Half a glass (capacity of 15 cl) of quinoa to be cooked in twice its volume of water, sprinkled with sesame or other seeds.
– Two to four carrots (colored if possible) + a parsnip + a large yellow turnip (that's what I used) + a bunch of herbs + the rest of the celeriac + a glass of cooked chickpeas + olive oil olive + soy sauce + half a red cabbage + four Canadian type apples + a glass of cider vinegar + a little coarse salt.

Cut the cabbage into strips. Put it to cook with the salt and vinegar covered. Cut the apples, peel them and add them. Cook over low heat and covered.
Cut the vegetables and sauté them over low/medium heat in a pan and covered with a little salt and a fresh bouquet garni (bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, sage) or dehydrated herbs until soft. tender, but crunchy. Remove the bouquet. Book it. Sauté the chickpeas over high heat in a little soy sauce and olive oil. Mix everything. Place some red cabbage and the hotpot on top.

– A quarter of celeriac or half (if small) grated + a tbsp of horseradish puree + half a tsp of sugar + vinegar + a quarter of soy cream brick or mayonnaise sauce (a third of a glass of soy milk + two thirds of sunflower oil + a quarter of lemon juice and salt in the blender arm). Mix the chosen sauce with the grated celery.