Before concluding the Ottoman cooking series of the previous weeks (with more delicious recipes and a round up of links to books, movies, videos and music that inspired me or that I used as reference along the way) and jumping the pond back to Mexican territory to get right into tacos and trompos —I want to make a small pause— because then what happens is the cool things I do, see, or eat on a daily basis start to pile up, and I forget to tell you about them…
This first half of the year has been especially hectic for me, not only because I started it by moving from my old apartment —along with other vicissitudes that joined this fact and that another day with more calm and a mezcalito, I will tell you about— but also, because with this new home —and its unbeatable location and community of neighbors— came to me, in a very spontaneous and welcomed way, new activities, new people and new food.
Now, food is not the only thing these new activities have in common, but it is certainly the best pretext for nurturing other important aspects of life. That is to say, in these times of technological isolation and post-pandemia, the table and the kitchen present themselves —perhaps more than ever— as ideal spaces to rebuild and strengthen our bonds with other people and with nature —which is the beginning and end of everything we eat.
Likewise, food is an unbeatable guide to penetrate the maw of this monster of a city that is Mexico City —which is both a beauty and beast at the same time— but that by learning to listen to it, recognize it, navigate it, and savor it, it can become the best place in the world to live, visit or live visiting forever, like me, who feels like an eternal tourist in it, as it never fails to leave me with my mouth open (and my belly happy).
These new chores I am referring to —which take the form of walks (and other outdoor activities involving food), cooking coaching, and market-to-table cooking workshops— presented themselves to me so spontaneously that, instead of setting out to design a very structured and defined plan for each thing (and, relying on other similar courses and activities I had done in the past), I concentrated, rather, on listening, observing and understanding what it is —at the core— that people are looking to take away from these experiences.
In other words, beyond the pleasure for discovering and tasting the city's food, a person may have a deeper desire to create or recover a bond with Mexican culture —or simply— to connect with other people with common interests. Behind the desire to improve their culinary skills —on the other hand— a person may have an underlying need to take care of themselves and eat smarter (and here, it is important to make a parenthesis, because, in this case, eating smarter does not mean going on a diet, no, what it is about, is to develop a common sense to make better decisions about what we eat, and to understand, how these decisions not only affect our body -and our pocket- but also our environment; learning to balance food intuitively - without the need to deprive ourselves of the things we like - and to develop, along with this, the basic skills necessary to cook efficiently and in accordance with our daily routine: From shopping until the food is beautifully served on the plate).
In the end, what unites these activities and those who are interested in them, beyond the taste for food —at least, in my experience— is a fundamental need to feel good about themselves and with the world around them; to celebrate life, to create meaningful bonds with other people, to connect with other traditions, cultures and beliefs; to energize, take care, and pamper themselves; and to approach nature with awareness and respect. In short: to flow.
This last one was just the word my friend Sandra from San Francisco, California —who’s a tech-executive— used on the phone a few days before traveling to Mexico City, when I asked her if there was any particular place she wanted to go: I'm going with the flow, she replied —and I immediately added her to a mole class (with breakfast and visits to expendios and mills included) I had the next day with Flavio from Forno da Milvio (if you go to Rome, don't miss his place, it's in the heart of the city —just steps from the Colosseum— and, among other delicious things, is famous for its Roman style pizza, thin and slightly crunchy). From then on, it was like that, everything flowed. Our plan was to have no plan, and yet every step we took, every drink, every bite, and every setting, was perfect.
Based on this philosophy, and using these experiences as field work, I started to think about what things, habits or rituals —around food— I can share with you here, that help me to feel in flow, or that which, as Carol G. says, no está a la venta and experts define as the optimal state of consciousness in which people feel and function better1 —in simpler words— those productive spurts in which, after consistently working your ass off for a while, things start to work out wonderfully, almost like magic: ideas flow out of our brains onto paper (computer, canvas, casserole, strings, or whatever your means of production is) like a stream in rainy season, and our body responds with agility and precision to every movement we make, as if an infalible inner voice were dictating us, step by step, what to do.
Most people —especially those of us who are dedicated to work that involves creativity or high physical performance— create —either intuitively or by study— tricks and rituals to enter this state of consciousness; these can take different forms depending on the activities we perform, but in general terms they respond to certain basic principles. Sandra, for example (who I may say is a very energetic and focused person, like a Queen of Wands), shared with me this list of concepts and objectives that she reviews every morning, and that I think perfectly capture this idea: silence, gratitude, visualize, exercise, read, write.
I, for example, have a morning routine that I have systematized over the years: rain, thunder or lightning, I get up super early, around 4:30 am (it's the time my brain works best and the only time of the day when I could really write calmly having two small children, so, I got used to it a long time ago and the truth is that it's not even hard for me anymore, just as it's not hard for me to die as soon as I put my head on the pillow —I must have a very clear conscience), I go to the bathroom, I make the bed (I can't think straight if I don't make my bed, I think it was Virgina Woolf to whom this syndrome was attributed, right? ), I put the coffee (for this I also have a little sub routine and —not to brag— but all the people who have tasted my coffee tell me that it is the best coffee they’ve tasted in their whole life. I'll let you know my secret another day), and, while it comes to a boil, I make an exercise called morning pages that I adopted many years ago (although I haven't always practiced with the same constancy, to be honest) from a book called The Artist's Way (by Julia Cameron) that if you haven't read and you are dedicated to some creative activity, I highly recommend you do, and that consists of doing three pages of automatic writing every morning (it's super useful to decongest the brain); Then I pour my coffee, do a 5 or 10 minute meditation, and start writing until about 10-11am, when the rest of my activities begin, depending on the day, because from then on —and maybe that's why this little unalterable routine is so important— I don't have a plan. My days very different to each other, because —although, always stay within the realm of cooking and writing— my activities are very diverse.
Well, beyond this, and evoking Woolf again with the phrase You cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if you have not dinned well —in the following days— I will share with you some golden rules related to food (or carried out in combination with it) that help me to feel better about myself and be less of a bad citizen of this planet.
The first one has to do with one of my favorite things to do, which is to go shopping, and here I leave you with this basket to inspire you...