For as long as I can remember, food has played a huge part in my life. Growing up in Taiwan, a place with a huge street food culture, my mom rarely did any home cooking. Just before she leaves work to head home, she would call me and ask, "What do you want to eat today?" and grab the items of my appetite on her way home. My dad could only boil water and his reason for being in the kitchen was to look for snacks, never for cooking. From an early age, I learned, spoonful by spoonful, that choice was something I could make every day, meal by meal. That diversity was literally around the corner, one food hawker away. This, together with my recurring childhood dream, characterizes my facilitation style.
For me: everyone has their unique style of facilitation, just like everyone can cook, depending on what is in your kitchen cupboard, or what knowledge was passed down to you or you have acquired by yourself. Cooking is not about being a chef and following rules, but about creating to satisfy your craving and do it from the heart. Inspired by ‘Sitting in The Fire’ by Arnold Mindell and combined with the concept of ‘burning one’s wood’, comes the title for this final project. ‘Cook as you are - burn your wood and enjoy food too!’
My love for food has grown beyond just satisfying my hunger. It has become a way for me to connect with people and cultures. Every dish tells a story, and every culture or family origin has its unique flavor. That’s why I have chosen meaningful recipes, related to a particular taste. This chosen form or structure is meant as a backbone for this final project. In which I use the chosen flavor and recipe as a metaphor to express my facilitation style, reflections seen through a Processwork lens and sharing of the gain insights. What flavor is most celebrated in the dish? And how does that taste relate to the lessons of life?
In Mandarin Chinese, "Suān 酸 tián 甜 kǔ 苦 là 辣" means sour-sweet-bitter-spicy. It is a term used to describe the ups and downs, joys and sorrows of life. Traditionally, when a couple is about to enter the rituals of a wedding ceremony, one of the wedding games is to have the couple taste food items in those four different flavors that symbolize the emotions they will experience during their life together as a couple. This way of engaging flavors as an embodied metaphor for life is something I believe can be extended beyond the institution of marriage. So I have borrowed the form of this game and apply it in my thesis.
In this final project, each chapter represents one of the flavors. In these chapters, I share a story, my reflections and a recipe tied to that taste that evokes a memory or a reflection of me being a Process Oriented facilitator. How on this journey of being a Processworker, I have learned to appreciate and work with all these flavors, in life and when being with groups, people or beings. Just like when one steps into the kitchen and gets to cook, to prepare food to enjoy.
<aside> 📖 Chapters
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