What is (your) Kitchen Culture?

My Happy Place

I believe that the culture of the kitchen can provide the single most important structural foundation for a healthy, happy life. The relationship you have with your kitchen says a lot about the relationship you have with food, your body, mother nature, and even your family. It also reveals your values, beliefs and attitudes about quality versus quantity, convenience versus effort, innovation versus tradition, creativity versus method, and simplicity versus complexity. So what exactly does "Kitchen Culture" mean, and why would you want to understand yours?

Let's break it down. 

• Kitchen - a room or area where food is prepared, cooked and consumed. 

Seems obvious, but it's not to some. Picture the dude (or dudette) whose only concept of "kitchen" is as a storage place for beer and chips.

• Culture - the collection of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, rituals, notions of time, roles, and material objects acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group existence.

"Culture" is a bit more complex by definition, but simply put, it's how we collectively tend to think, act, and feel.

• Kitchen Culture - the skills, wisdom, habits, tools, rituals, roles, values, and attitudes that characterize the place in your home where food is prepared, cooked, and consumed. Translation...What you think, do, and feel in your kitchen. Even more simplified...Your relationship with your kitchen.

Who cares? Why is your Kitchen Culture even worth thinking about?

Making a Big Deal of Dining Out!

First, there are the physical health implications. I LOVE eating out. But this I've learned...according to data released in 2015 by the U.S. Department of Commerce, restaurant spending has, for the first time in history, overtaken grocery spending. A 2013 LivingSocial Dining Out Survey revealed that Americans ate out, on average, four to five times each week and that patterns continues to rise. There is a correlating rise in diabetes, heart disease, and other serious illnesses. 

Here's why it makes sense that these two increases may be related: Food prepared at most American restaurants is generally more processed and is served in much higher quantities than single servings. Food prepared for us in most restaurants has more processed salt, sugar, wheat, food coloring, preservatives and saturated fats than we could ever replicate in our own kitchens...plus it is served to us in double or even triple quantity. 

Nevertheless, I propose that those of us who enjoy the restaurant experience continue to eat out, but that we select and support more local cafe's where the ingredient selection is more conscientious and intentional. This will be more expensive, so do it less often. That way, eating out becomes more of a treat and less of a compromise that may cost you and your family their health in the long-run. 

Kitchens aren't just for cooking food!

What about how spending time in our kitchens influences our social, emotional, and mental health? More time in your own kitchen not only means better physical health for you and your family, it also means more peaceful and purposeful bonding time with those you love. This can impact your social, emotional, and even mental health. We've gotten away from being together in the kitchen...oddly reserving that joy only for holiday meals. The tasks involved in daily food preparation and consumption are communal in nature.  I also support getting the pleasure of "someone else's cooking" by having more dinner gatherings at the homes of nearby friends, neighbors, and family. The most beautiful memories and relationships form over sharing food. Plus, it saves money.

For some people, the kitchen can become a sanctuary for getting centered and grounded, especially after a stressful day. Types of kitchen meditations vary, but the idea of using time in the kitchen to practice mindfulness is universal. Approaching your time in the kitchen this way to nurture and nourish your body and spirit also can have a positive impact on your emotional and mental health. Read Kitchen Mindfulness if you are curious for more about this idea.

Hello Kitty's Kitchen at Epcot...I wanna explore!

And still for others, the kitchen is a place of exploration and creativity! I personally lose my mind in the kitchen and it is fantastic. It's that thing artists and athletes tend to describe as being in the zone or losing track of time because they are so engaged in the present moment activity. I simply stop thinking and start doing when I step into my kitchen, and having that as a daily outlet hugely impacts and stimulates my creativity. 

These approaches to our time in the kitchen decreases stress and anxiety, which we all know is crucial for maintaining wellness. They also increase the quality of our nutrition, given that the groceries brought into the kitchen are generally fresh, natural, whole, real foods. It doesn't take much to improve the quality of nutrition when the alternative is restaurant and other convenience food.

Is your kitchen already your happy place? Or do you want to experience more ease and pleasure in your kitchen...more often? Good news: healthy kitchen behaviors can be learned, cultivated, and integrated so that anyone can improve their improve their kitchen culture, if desired. But to know if you desire any changes in your kitchen culture, you have to know what you have going on now!

SO...what is your Kitchen Culture type?

1. "My what?"
2. "Freezer, hot pockets, microwave, check!"
3. "I need you; I need to want you, but I hate you."
4. "Follow the directions!"
5. "This is my family center."
6. "Let's collaborate. You do what I say."
7. "Get OUT and don't come back until I ring the dinner bell."
8. "Sweet Jesus, this is my guilty place."
9. "My creative place to experiment!"



Green, the taste of home.

10. "Don't drop crumbs in my showroom."

I could (and may, some fine day) write a book to fully explore these ideas and how they are illustrated across various cultures, but for now I just want to offer you a taste. I'll be expanding on the 10 types of Kitchen Cultures in my next post. Until then...happy health!