Comfort to be found in the kitchen

“In my family, we don’t talk about our feelings. We just make soup.”

The above quote came from the April 17, 2020, episode of MacGyver, and it felt especially appropriate for this moment in time.

It’s important to talk about our feelings when we can. It’s a relief for us and helps our loved ones better understand why we do or say things. But sometimes … sometimes it’s just so hard to articulate our feelings. We can’t find the right words, or there’s so much going on in our brains, or our emotions are so scattered and complicated that there are no words to adequately describe how we feel.

We’re scared but hopeful, grateful but frustrated, relieved but guilty — each of us for our own reasons. And sometimes, when we know words can’t fix our problems, we settle for “I’m fine,” even though we aren’t.

So in the absence of words, we take action, and that has sent many of us to our kitchens. Some of us are in quarantine; some, unemployed; and some simply seek the comfort of the warmest place in our homes.

For those with extra time on our hands, the kitchen has become an outlet for our desire to explore and create. We’re trying new recipes, letting the mad rush to get dinner on the table settle into an all-day culinary affair. We’re making breads, pastas and pastries from scratch. We’re setting little ones on counters to watch and occasionally stir, and we’re dancing with our partners around the kitchen island.

For some of us, the kitchen has become a sanctuary, a place of comfort. It’s where we crack open faded, stained cookbooks and relive beloved childhood memories. It’s where we feel close to people we have lost or can’t see right now, and we feel their love surround us, along with the curling steam from the pots on the stovetop.

Some of us cook for ourselves. It’s a form of self-care. We make favorite dishes or indulge in guilty pleasures. Or we fix the healthiest meals we know because that’s what makes us feel better. Some of us cook for others. We probably all know someone who’s been feeding half the neighborhood — a dinner-time ding-dong-ditch that leaves a tinfoil-covered plate on the porch — because maybe we can’t protect our neighbors from losing jobs or getting sick, but we can make sure they get fed.

But it’s more than just the food. In a world that feels dark and chaotic, the kitchen has become a place of peace and order. There are recipes to follow. Exact measurements to make. Or maybe we improvise a little — a dash of this, a sprinkle of that — but what’s the worst thing that can happen? It doesn’t taste good, so we start again.
Share the meals that have brought you comfort or joy and email your recipes, along with photos, to food@dominionpost.com or send them to us via Facebook Messenger.

We can’t control the world around us, but we can control our kitchens. And maybe we can’t find the words to express how we’re feeling, but we can make soup.