Even though cooking is mostly seen as a mundane chore, it can be one of the most approachable ways to develop our creative practice. It’s as if being perpetually strung along by our literal sense of taste eventually teaches us, in a more general sense, what we like, what we dislike, and more importantly— why. The journey may at times be arduous, but after we arrive on the other side of the cooking learning curve, we begin to approach something as seemingly mundane as feeding ourselves with a sense of creativity and curiosity.

In fact, our ability to look at cooking as something more than “putting food on the table” (which is, in and of itself a noteworthy goal) is what allows us to be transformed by it. Of course, there are the practical and general implications of being shaped by our ability to cook, like eating out less, eating tastier and more nutritious meals, and saving money.

But eventually, we experience the less practical and more contextualized impacts of learning our way around a kitchen. Through developing my flavor palette and making meals that excite me I’ve become emboldened to more broadly follow my taste and more consistently spend time on projects that do little more than feed my creative fire. Through chopping innumerable onions and building countless flavor bases I’ve learned how to solve a problems by using a rough comparison, where previously, a full tutorial may have been necessary. Through changing the ingredient list (whether by choice or accident) I’ve learned that if I believe a project is good, then being different is less of a harbinger and more of a bonus.

The lessons I’ve learned from allowing cooking to reach escape velocity has, dish by dish, impacted how I look at the creative landscape as a whole. I’m discovering that I no longer need a recipe because I’ve learned what elements can be combined to create something truly special. I’m discovering that no matter the medium, being able to “do my own thing” is truly never off the table.