Cooking as Emotional Alchemy
For 30 years, I've been cooking. For 17 years, I worked in Tech. But the kitchen has always been where I process what words cannot express.
At Informed Gourmet, we don't just teach recipes. We use cooking as a container for healing, connection, and presence.
This is food as therapy. This is cooking as coming home to yourself.
Your Kitchen is a Sacred Space
When you knead dough, you're not just making bread - you're working through resistance.
When you add spices to hot oil and close your eyes to inhale, you're practicing presence.
Indian cuisine is our medium because it demands all of your senses. The textures, the aromas, the sounds of sizzling - it pulls you into your body and out of your racing mind.
What Happens in Our Workshops
Each workshop is an intimate gathering of 6-8 people. We cook together, we share honestly, and we leave feeling more connected.
We begin with a drink (non-alcoholic) and a moment to arrive. You'll share your name and one emotion you're carrying. No performance, no pretense - just presence.
Arrival & Intention
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The Sensory Grounding
Before touching any ingredients, we pause. Close your eyes.We'll pass around whole spices. Smell them. Notice what memories arise.
Together, we prepare a traditional Indian dish. But the cooking is woven with reflection.
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Eating Together
Sharing Circle (optional)
We sit, eat what we've created, and reflect. First bite in silence. Notice the texture, the warmth, the spices.
Then we talk about the food, about the process, about what came up for you.
Not everyone will share. That's okay. But the space is held for those who do.
Each person shares one thing they're grateful for. I'll gift you a small jar of my spice blend.
The Cooking Journey
As we layer spices: "Each spice adds dimension. What layers make up who you are?"
We cook. We pause to smell sizzling cumin. We share stories about home, displacement, the foods that anchor us.
"What shifted for you today?"
We listen without fixing, without advice. Just presence
Closing With Grattitude
You'll leave with recipe cards, your spice blend and something harder to name - a different relationship with your kitchen.
Who's in the Kitchen With You
My name is Shashi. I've been cooking for 30 years...longer than I've done anything else.
I grew up in India speaking Hindi, Tamil, English, and now German. I worked across the US, the UK, and now Germany. I learned early that sometimes you need multiple languages to say what one language cannot. Food became another language maybe the most honest one.
When someone asks "where are you from," I pause. Home isn't a place anymore. It's a taste. The smell of cumin hitting hot oil. The muscle memory of rolling parathas or swirling Dosas the way my mother did.
For 17 years, I worked in cybersecurity. I was good at it. But I kept returning to the kitchen because while I was managing digital identities at work, I was trying to figure out my own identity at home.
I started teaching cooking in many years ago. And I noticed: the most powerful moments weren't when someone perfected a technique. It was when someone cried while kneading dough and said, "I don't know why this is making me emotional."
I knew why.
Cooking isn't just about food. It's about the grandmother we lost, the home we left behind, the person we used to be. It's about what we can't say out loud but can somehow express through our hands.
I've processed grief over burnt onions. I've worked through career uncertainty while stirring dal. I've found joy in imperfect parathas.
I'm not a therapist. I'm not a guru. I'm someone who believes cooking can be a container for what we cannot speak.
This work sits at the intersection of traditional Indian cooking, emotional healing, immigrant identity, and authentic connection.
I recently left my cybersecurity career to build this. It's terrifying. But I kept thinking: What if the thing I'm most afraid of doing is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing?
If this resonates, I'd be honoured to cook with you - Shashi