A beginning...

To an unusual degree, my life is about food.

Like you, I eat or drink something many times every day. This is universal to the human experience (at least for those of us lucky enough to be adequately fed). But my focus on food goes further, because I earn my living by inventing scrumptious vegetarian dishes and sharing them with the world.

When you read the recipes in my cookbooks, you won't find "peaceful heart" and "awareness" in the ingredients list, but I believe these components make a difference in the quality of the finished product. I believe that when we bring the best of who we are to the cooking process, something extraordinary happens: the food we create and share with loved ones doesn't just satisfy our physical hunger, it nourishes us to the soul.

For me, cooking is an artistic pursuit and a spiritual practice. All my senses come alive as I blend and layer different colors, textures, aromas, and flavors -- and I am consciously cultivating generosity, patience, gratitude, and other spiritual qualities in the process.

So this blog I'm creating is about food and spirit and life. It comes from my heart and is informed by decades of passionate vegetarian cooking. In addition to my own musings, it will from time to time include poems (my own and others'), recipes, quotations from famous foodies, and more. It won't try to sell you on any dietary dogma, because we all have to make our own way to health and consciousness.

Here's an original poem in honor of my blog-launching day:

May my efforts
in the art of cooking
nurture goodness,
cause joy to blossom,
make many hearts
serene and content --
free for a few delicious moments
from desire.

~ Mindy Toomay