The comfort of cooking in January
Everybody talks about how bleak January is: cold and dark, bloated and sluggish. And this year, there’s been a real backlash to the whole concept of ‘resolutions’. January is hard enough, they say, without imposing insurmountable challenges on ourselves. The concept of self-care has become amplified in this month of melancholy as we are urged to be kinder to our bodies and avoid pushing them to extremes. Personally, I find January to be quite cathartic, a fresh start, new chapter, clear inbox. It’s refreshing when everybody decides to stay at home and save money/themselves.
December is a marathon: planned social events, impromptu pub trips and more day drinking than I care to mention. The big shop is replaced with an ad hoc smash and grab at the Tesco metro, proper dinners give way to party food and share bags of crisps. The longer you go without making a meal, the easier it is to absentmindedly order another takeaway, or rustle up a whacking great wedge of cheese with a chutney garnish. In January, you finally have time to get back into the kitchen.
Productive Saturday mornings spent pouring over cookbooks old and new, carefully curating a weekend menu are akin to the best yoga class: soothing and satisfying. Basking in the glory of good intentions, in January I put pen to paper, listing out ingredients, drawing up meal plans and mentally filing away all the things future me intends to make. The benefits are bountiful: hours spent chopping, braising and roasting are mediative, and, fuelled by a desire to eat delicious food, the spoils are excitingly edible. There is also a smug satisfaction to be found in portioning up slaved-over soup into Tupperware ready for a week’s worth of lunching.
When the darkness is still omnipresent, and our immune systems are shot, a complete January reinvention is often not on the cards. So instead, grab your apron, stick on your favourite podcast and potter round the kitchen until your windows are steamy and your belly is full. Embrace the comfort of cooking (and eating), you’ve got the rest of the year for 6am spin classes and kale smoothies.