the consciousness of preparation
Written by Desmond Olubunmi · Founder of Sunya
Recognising that the quality of a meal is not determined by its ingredients alone — but by the state of the one who prepares it, the simplicity of its construction, and the presence with which it is received.
Every ancient monastic tradition placed enormous importance on the
consciousness of the cook. This was not superstition — it was a deep recognition that how food is prepared shapes the quality of what is consumed. When a meal is cooked in a state of anger, hurry, or disconnection, those qualities are present in the environment, the touch, the energy of its making.
When food is prepared with presence, care, and simplicity, the entire experience of eating it is different — the body receives it differently. This is also why heavily industrialised food, produced in conditions of mechanical efficiency and profit-driven volume, lacks something that home-cooked food prepared with attention does not.
The act of preparation is itself a form of nourishment.
The consciousness of the cook: Do not cook while angry, rushed, or distracted. Treat the kitchen as a space of conscious activity — not a production line. Chop the vegetables with full attention. Stir with intention. The quality of your inner state is present in the meal you create.
Simplicity of combination: Keep meals brutally simple. The mind craves hyper- stimulation — twenty ingredients, conflicting sauces, chaotic textures. But the digestive system works best when it has fewer competing elements to process simultaneously. The fewer ingredients, the cleaner and more efficient the extraction.
The gratitude circuit: Before taking the first bite, pause. Acknowledge the remarkable chain of events — the sun, the rain, the soil, the hands that grew and brought this food — that converged so that your body could continue. This brief moment of genuine reverence closes the loop with the earth, and transforms eating from a mechanical habit into a conscious act of receiving.
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