Cooking to connect

Cooking, the gateway drug to sustainability, and a very accessible way to connect with the Earth.

Look at the image above. Think about the water in each dish. Rice, filled with water. Greens, grown with water. Fried seafood (maybe?), from the oceans. Soup, mostly water with beans soaked in water. Citrus, almost completely water.

In Michael Pollen's documentary series, "Cooked" on Netflix, he focuses each episode on one of the four natural elements – fire, water, air and earth. The series takes the viewer through the "evolution of what food means to us through the history of food preparation and its universal ability to connect us. Highlighting our primal human need to cook, the series urges a return to the kitchen to reclaim our lost traditions and to forge a deeper, more meaningful connection to the ingredients and cooking techniques that we use to nourish ourselves."

The episode on water explores water's role in cooking both from the fascinating view of its power to break down rigid fibers in the food with time and heat as well as from the view of reconnecting people with the water in their food. The description of the documentary series highlights the ability of cooking to connect to each other and to the Earth.

As such a powerful tool, I am now wondering if the museum should contain a deep dive into the water in our food and/or a mini-cooking class. The deep dive exhibit could include the infographic from

http://thewaterweeat.com/ shown below as well as images of water in food preparation: soaking beans, steaming rice, watering herbs, etc. A mini-cooking class could include pour-over coffee in which we explain the water required to produce coffee as they're waiting for the grounds to bloom or a more collaborative act in which people add pre-cut vegetables to a boiling pot of soup, which can be served in cups when ready. The licensing/permitting would be messy for this so maybe we could ask the food providers of the museum to run this part.

Some say that recycling is the gateway drug to sustainability, but I believe that Dr. Goldsmith mentioned that "food is the gateway drug to sustainability." Water in food, water in cooking could be an engaging way to share insights into embedded water and the connections with each other and with the land that have now become invisible in our culture.

^Image from http://thewaterweeat.com/