3 Words

3 Words: Cook With Gratitude

Rethinking the holiday through food

Kerri Conan
Heated
Published in
3 min readNov 20, 2020

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Holding beans over a colander
All photos: Kerri Conan

At my house, we practiced for Thanksgiving every night by saying grace. Our parents encouraged us to discuss current events at the dinner table, and even as children we understood that others around the world were not so fortunate. No surprise that my career path led toward food, with particular interest in the old-school home economics of improvising recipes and minimizing waste. I fancied myself as a professional in mindful eating.

Until this year.

Deciding how to gather in a global pandemic and what to celebrate while our democracy, climate, and economy are so visibly challenged, pushed me to rethink everything about this holiday. Instead of eating appreciatively in the moment, I needed to tap memory and empathy to honor the past and brighten the future — to let the smell of sizzling onions and garlic take me to my Ma-Ma’s stove, helping her start Sunday red gravy. Then to add sage, nodding toward the stuffing I wouldn’t be making this year. Stirring and inhaling deeply, my mind wandered to people everywhere starting a dish right now this same way. And those who were not able to. I am teaching myself to cook with gratitude.

Sorting through beans

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Heated
Heated

Published in Heated

Food from every angle: A publication from Medium x Mark Bittman

Kerri Conan
Kerri Conan

Written by Kerri Conan

Cookbook developer, longtime Mark Bittman colleague, home economics advocate.