The Lawyer, The Cook & The Kitchen

The social media-verse is such a small place! Just this week alone, I have come across quite a few existing or former lawyers in the UK who have taken up their secret passion for food to start a blog, write a book or offer cooking classes and more. It is so inspiring to know that I am not alone or crazy in making this transition in my life. It seems that among all the analytical and intense work regime, there is a budding chef waiting to lose him/herself in a world of edible creativity.

Almost all of my blog posts to date have been about the health benefits of spices which is my new found passion but in this post I want to humanize my blog and business. For those that do not know me, I think to understand where I am at is to understand where I came from. 

My journey in this world started in Kenya and then I grew up and worked in London, England for most of my life until a few years ago when we moved to Canmore in Canada. For those that do not know Canmore, it is a world away from the big city life. It is nestled in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and just a mere 15 minutes away from Banff National Park. It is also a place where so many people come for a lifestyle change and end up reinventing themselves. So it seems I have have found the right place to not just change countries but career path too!

Food is such a big part of Indian culture and despite never taking an interest in cooking it until I went to university, I have always loved food! When I reflect back on how my taste buds have evolved, it is interesting to see that I have gone from a sweet tooth child, vegetarian to a pescetarian being in food heaven at gourmet restaurants and now am a vegetarian some days, vegan others and pescetarian others but I am all about whole & organic foods now. The one constant in my food journey has been that if I can't eat healthy or home cooked food, I would rather not eat at all. Of course, like anyone else, I give in to my vices every now and again but life would be boring without them!

In the last decade, it has all been about entertaining, experimenting and experiencing for me! They say "home is where the heart is" - for me the kitchen is where the heart is (sadly, the picture above is my dream kitchen and not my real one!). As part of the lawyer life, it became a welcome therapy and escape and it still remains my source of relaxation (in addition to other pursuits I have a bit more time for nowadays). When I cook from the heart, it shows. It is also inexplicably rewarding when someone I cook for really enjoys my food because it means I have opened them up to experimenting, experiencing and being entertained too!

If I had to classify my cooking, I would say it was contemporary Indian but really I cook a lot of international food and of course there is at least one spice in almost all of my dishes, making it fusion I guess. I remember as a child I could never understand why my mother for putting spices into a pasta dish and now I find myself doing the same! There is a probable reason why India has the lowest incidence of Alzheimer's, why Ayurveda has been an effective therapy used for centuries and why food from the Indian subcontinent is so tasty - SPICES!

With all the wonders spices bring to this world, I live to cook and cook to live. 

How has food changed your life?