Why Cook?

Thank you for printing the excerpt from Michael Pollan’s Cooked [“Why Cook?” March 2014]. I look forward to cooking dinner almost every evening. It’s an activity that requires my attention, my creativity and intuition, and my senses of taste and smell. It connects me with people all over the world who are also preparing meals for their families: bent over their chopping blocks and cooking pots, adding, stirring, and tasting to make something delicious.

I took up cooking in earnest only after my first husband died. He had been the cook in our family, and a grief counselor encouraged me to adopt one habit of his to carry forward with me into the future. I chose cooking because it connects me with him and brings some small happiness to those I love.