Food For Thought: Winter, Week 8
For our final writing prompt this winter, we reflect on where we've been and where we are going.
In week eight of our seasonal food writing prompts, we celebrate our resilience in difficult times.
On the evening of Inauguration Day, I made myself a comfort meal. A baked Japanese sweet potato, green peas with garlic butter, chicken tenders with honey mustard dipping sauce, and a pile of kimchi. It wasn’t anything fancy but it helped to ground and relax me. I was feeling some deep unsettled fear in my ancestral body. My limbs ached. My jaw felt tight. My anxiety was up.
I noticed myself becoming very self-critical, blaming myself and my bad habits for my current state of fatigue and general malaise. But I reminded myself that there’s a lot going on in the world right now. Many of us feel tired. Deflated. Bewildered. Let’s be nice to our little selves.
Earlier in the day, I had met an older woman who was wandering the grounds of the arts center where I’m staying. She told me she was “walking some things off” and we discussed the sad irony that Trump was inaugurated on MLK Jr. Day. She had been a botanical illustrator, and had spent nearly 20 years in the Sierra Nevada mountains outside Grenada, Spain, painting the native flowers and working to conserve the area. “I refuse to give up hope. I refuse to stop noticing the beauty in the world,” she said, “That is my role as an artist. To sing in the face of fear.”
It is not always easy, but I believe it is so necessary to have faith in life, to appreciate all that is good and working well, even as the death culture closes in around us. We must continue to take care of what we can, in our small circles of influence. To honor what’s alive in our hearts. To be kind to ourselves and others.
The legendary filmmaker (and avid meditator) David Lynch died last week and there’s a great quote of his going around, “ Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole.” It’s a poignant reminder that while we shouldn’t deny or ignore the horrific things happening, it can be supportive to take some time each day to focus on what is thriving. To find the joy and sweetness surrounding the despair.
Even though it’s currently in the single digits in Santa Fe (and snowing in New Orleans!), and while the equinox may still be many more months away, Spring is coming. It’s just around the corner. In the meantime, amid the fear, violence, and divisiveness, we take care of each other. We take care every time we share a meal with someone. We take care with every bite of something warm and delicious.
Here is this week’s writing prompt.
Try to find a quiet place where you can focus for 20 minutes. The point of this exercise is to write freely, without judgement, and see what comes out of your brain. You can answer each prompt question or start with the one that is most interesting and see where it takes you. Follow your mind, be present with the emotions coming up, and have fun. See if you can keep writing for a full 15 minutes. It might sound like an intimidating amount of time, but I promise it will end up flying by. Just keep going!
What has food taught you about love?
How do you find resilience in food? What foods do you eat when you need a bit of extra oompf or support?
What would you like to remember about what you did well and enjoyed with food and cooking this winter?
What are you envisioning and dreaming of for Spring? What wonderful meals would you like to cook?
If you had some good insights or surprises from this writing exercise, share them in the comments below!
Thank you for coming along on these eight weeks of Food For Thought-Winter writing prompts. There will be eight more seasonal writing prompts beginning in March. If you would like support these food writing prompts, or get ready for the next round, you can upgrade to a paid subscription here.
If you don’t want to commit to a full year subscription, you can pay monthly.
Want to dive deeper with your food writing but don’t want to wait til March?
Join the 21 Day Food Writing Journey!
This course includes twenty-one days of simple writing prompts and exercises, delivered to your Inbox every morning. Sign up for this adventure to check in with yourself, process your emotions, and dream into your food future—all in less than 20 minutes a day.
You may even find that by the end of the course, you will have transformed your relationship with food and found new sources of nourishment.
Are you a photographer who would like to improve your writing? Or a writer who also loves to take photographs and wants to bring more alignment between the two?
I will be teaching an online workshop February 19 – March 19, 2025 where I will cover the foundational aspects of creative writing, including narrative arc, structure, sentence construction, timing, transitions, and character development. For extra support, I will also engage in a 30-minute, one-on-one session with each participant.
Whether you ultimately plan to write an introductory essay for a photo book, enhance your bio or artist statement, or simply create excellent image captions for social media, this workshop helps you discover how enlightening and pleasurable writing can be—especially when you start small.
You will find your creativity reinvigorated, both on the page and through the lens.
Lots of love,
Gina Rae
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