She designs a recipe by looking at the ingredients. But little does she know that she is also changed the process of developing that recipe. She is shaped by the very product she is shaping, unbeknownst to her. The nomadic chef, akin to the nomad, does to reside in a single place. The nomad is someone who perpetually moves around, shaping the place she moves in but also being shaped by that very place. The nomadic chef, rather than being a chef who travels (the literature meaning of a nomadic chef, emphasising her movement from one place to another) is a nomad that does not fit predefined frameworks. Let me explain.

Most people follow recipes when they cook, evident by the many videos of people cooking online making the same thing over and over again, evident by the same thing being displayed over and over again. It seems like all creativity ceased; people just copy others. Old recipes are rekindled and revived under new names, traditional recipes are decontextualised and presented as something revolutionary unearthed by only a select few. But a recipe serves as a frame, something that restricts. This is not bad, recipes are like pathways, go here to avoid disappointment, go here because it is tried and tested methods. This, however, does not allow for creativity to flourish. Creativity with limits imposed on it and restricted in arbitrary ways cannot flourish; it does not bloom as the imposition of circumscribed boundaries prohibits wonder and unrestricted investigation. A recipe therefore limits one to a singular outcome, an outcome that is already known. (This is by no means a bad thing.)

Predetermined outcomes do not shape one like uncertainty does. The nomad does not know how she will be shaped, nor does she know how she will shape the place in which she dwells. A certain uncertainty creatively comes into play: infinite possibilities within range remain open and uncharted. If the outcome is known, every action will be judged according to that outcome which shapes the endeavour to remain formulaic. Tried and tested waters, the outcome is already known, creativity ceases and is replaced by technique, method, steps in a process. The nomad cannot follow predetermined steps because the place she dwells is unfamiliar, and she is not the same as before. Uncertainty and method are antithetical.

Following a recipe does not necessarily remain open to creativity. It is a process, a method to follow, steps in a linear course of action.

How might the chef look who does not follow a recipe? Who is not dictated by steps in a linear process with a predefined end in sight? Who is not situated in a rigid framework limited by arbitrary frames?

The nomadic chef is someone who moves through recipes. She is someone who looks at different ingredients not as steps but as creative opportunities to shape and in turn be shaped by them. The literal meaning of the word might instantiate someone who moves from place to place, a chef not home to one kitchen. But the idea I am trying to explain here is a chef who is not home to recipes in the most general understanding of recipes. She is not restricted by artificial boundaries and frameworks that inhibit her from seamlessly move from one dish to another. She is not home to a particular style; she transcends individual styles and the framework in which styles make sense. She appropriates what helps her through the journey of cooking and discards what restricts, holds back, limits, hinders, and so on. Tradition is seen as something that restricts. This does not mean the wheel is reinvented, nor does it mean that she does not hold close to her the roots from which she stems; it merely means that if the wheel does not help her, it becomes an object of restriction and not something worth keeping on hand.

Postscriptum, or Incomplete Ideas

This post is similar to an idea have been working on, as visible here. But a lot of my thoughts are still incomplete, it is mere seeds that need to grow into something better. I wish I had more time to think about them and to do some more research. These are mere thoughts that accumulate with my other ideas as I do research for my main writing. I really hope that it will become something, as the ideas are really productive in my work.

In any case, have you thought about these ideas in this way? Please do let me know in the comments below!

For now, happy reading and philosophising. Stay well.

The writings in this post are my own, albeit an amalgamation of various ideas I had throughout the years. All of the photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300.