"Non-Religion" In the Kitchen

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I do not follow a particular religion as I have never been raised to do so, and after our conversations regarding the ways in which religion is sometimes placed upon people forcefully or simply unwantedly, I began to think about how my parents sort of intended there to be an absence of religion. 

We have our beliefs surely, but I never attended church or Sunday school or religious youth groups which I’ve heard many people share their not so fond memories of but still somehow felt like I was missing out. Religion quite literally rules the world in lots of ways, and I have had so many thoughts like “what the heck, how am I not involved in anything??” 

And then I was comforted by some of our discussions on how Perez emphasizes the ways in which religion is present in cooking. I don’t cook for Orishas or deities or necessarily think of any spiritual beings while cooking but I surely can resonate with the emotions, forms of thinking, and the beauty of conversation evoked through cooking that I feel are similar to those involved a specific religious group or system.

I love the metaphor of cooking as dancing, especially when done with another person. The connectedness you feel with another person or multiple people when cooking is what I imagine people more explicitly involved in religion feel, and it is wonderful. When I’ve been away at college for a while and it’s time to come home, my sisters and I simply assume we are going to cook once we are all back together because of how much we love to do so and how it is the perfect activity to both catch up through as well as create a delicious dish for all of us to enjoy and share afterwards. 

Perez’s descriptions of the ways in which newcomers are “hazed” in a sense in order to diminish the ego and provide servitude I guess is something similar to what my sisters and I have done, in a much less out there kind of way, in which we make our youngest cut the onions. LOL nothing like gutting animals, but is certainly somewhat place putting.


In relation to this class in general, I’ve been thinking about the way in which all of the senses are provoked and involved in cooking and how the fantasicness of that seems religious in itself. Not only are all senses involved, but I feel like they are all important in cooking, and I am excited to share some of these thoughts with my sisters once I am home for spring break!  

Comments

  1. Jonathan Brumberg-KrausMarch 15, 2022 at 2:29 PM

    I love your analogy of cutting onions to the "hazing" of initiates! Are you initiating your youngest sister into your sisterly kitchen cooking rituals? I'm glad you see the religiosity of cooking and talking, of making communities and social connections that way. To me, that IS "religion," regardless whether it's associated with a tradition people label as a religion. Being and doing meaningful things together like cooking, eating, and talking is deeply spiritual, and I think we really need those kinds of experiences to be human.

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