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Cooking is love you can taste

Three months before this book hit the shelves, I had serious doubts whether I would be able to write it at all. I considered it a solemn responsibility, and it weighed heavy on me. Being well aware of how many people are trying their hand at publishing and how many volumes swamp the shelves in bookstores everywhere, I wanted to deliver something that my fellow cooking enthusiasts and cookbook addicts would see as fresh, genuine, and well executed.

The idea for this book came to me somewhat in opposition to a publishing offer I received – I was to write a book about baking and pastries built around stories and anecdotes about my family. I’m not keen on peddling my privacy and I always preferred to be judged on my abilities instead of my provenance. So I conjured up a hybrid, an amalgamation of my love of nature, my profound need to give back to others, my somewhat compulsive proclivity to step outside my comfort zone in the kitchen, and all the knowledge that I have accrued over the years.

Just as I have tried a variety of diets to change my own way of thinking about food, I decided that I have to avoid the conventional approach to using herbs in the kitchen and look at them through the lens of sweets and baking. Some of my ideas were guided solely by intuition, others were meticulously thought out. When I finished putting together my recipes and saw that I have many more than required by my deal with the publisher, I felt that I have accomplished the goal I laid out for myself.

I’d love for this adventure to remind me and to show you that cooking and experimenting are inextricably linked and boundless when they serve an overarching goal. And there is no better goal than to give back to others. Even if not everything is going according to your plan, the emotions that we beam into the world through our food and our desire to bring joy to others will definitely make a valuable contribution to the world around us.

To love is to give. As best as we can.