Why I started a cooking journal after my work with the UN
I hope you too will find the joy in cooking and eating well
I have been with the United Nations for a few years now — I started my fellowship in 2021, shortly before a significant escalation in the Russo-Ukrainian War in February 2022. Most people didn’t connect the dots, but there were moments when Russia’s nuclear forces were on high alert. I was arguing with some of the folks at Harvard about the risk assessment.
Not too long ago, I moved from New York to London. It felt a bit surreal looking back. (I miss home a lot.) I still serve as an Expert at UNESCO, but I decided to go back to the private sector after my book tour for 5 Ideas from Global Diplomacy came to a close, and return to the arts part-time. I studied at an art school and then at a policy school, so it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
I started cooking every day, and nearly every meal since the pandemic started. At first, it was out of an abundance of caution. There was never a good time to wine and dine, and then get horribly sick. But I soon found cooking to be a great creative outlet even when I didn’t give myself the permission to spend time on “hobbies”. I have to eat. Might as well cook efficiently. Make the meal count.
After 5 years of cooking every meal, I find cooking well and eating well life-affirming. There is so much chaos in the world, but when it’s time to eat, I lay out a white cotton placemat for myself, sit down, and enjoy the meal. Life-affirming is an unusual term. It’s the feeling I get when I think of pearls. As it turns out, diamonds can form on any planet where carbon is under pressure, but pearls can only form through biological processes — where there is life.
I also find a lot of individuality in cooking. Give a bunch of people the same ingredients and every dish will taste different. At a time when there’s so much sameness in the world and pressure to do what you are “supposed to”, it’s a great reminder that we can each make our own paths. It’s the reason I try not to be too prescriptive when I write recipes. Go have fun with it and make it your own!
I ended up spending some time learning to cook at Le Cordon Bleu in London. There are lots of standardized recipes, and recipe books I reference, which I will share in a future article. My food journal helps me keep track of the dishes I make, and share the joy of cooking — even if you barely have time to cook. I hope you too will find the joy in cooking and eating well.
To use my signature signoff for this journal,
Happy cooking 🍖
M. Freddy
My artist and writer alias