Food & Mood

I was always “creative” like everyone else was in their youth. But, in the form of art and writing and all the ways where it’s easy to be creative. My artwork made it to the school art shows every year, I exceeded in my creative writing class, I made it into the National Arts Honors Society. So yeah, I was creative, but only in the areas in which creativity was expected. 

Then I came to college. No more art clubs, creative writing workshops, or fun electives that I could let my creativity out in. Well, there was, but I didn’t have time. I was a Pre-Med student with a full schedule of science classes. Science. The killer of creativity. 

I decided I hated my major, but I had no idea what I wanted to switch to. And, I didn’t like taking risks, so I didn’t want to change to something too dramatically different. I really loved the arts. So I took a single graphic design class; Hated it. And I took a single media/journalism/film class; Didn't love it. But, a teammate of mine somehow convinced me to blindly change my major to nutrition. Nutrition. It seemed like a versatile major that wasn’t too far out of my healthcare comfort zone. 

My whole world changed. I fell in love with food; the idea, the presentation, the taste. I started making pinterest boards and finding exotic recipes online. All summer, I tried new food places I’ve never heard of, made new recipes I’ve never tried before, photographed the best looking 

dishes I’ve ever seen. It became an art to me. I could no longer make a simple grilled cheese, or PB&J. It had to be different. I could no longer go to the dining hall and pick a singular food item for dinner, it had to be combinations of items assembled in a way no one has seen before. Food 

has given me a way to unleash my creativity in a form that I’ve never enjoyed more. And it made me happy. It’s therapeutic to me to research new recipes, and try different combinations of flavors that shouldn’t be paired but for some reason fit so perfectly together. Scrolling through Pinterest recipes is my way of winding down before bed every night. Food has given me a form of play that I haven’t felt since I was a kid painting rocks in my backyard. Food has brought back my creativity, in a place where it’s not always found.

By: Alivia Tamer