“COOK(v.)
from coquere: to cook, prepare food, ripen, digest,
to turn over in the mind.”
WISE COOK started as a blog about cooking and eating local food in Provence, France, where I live most of the time. It now includes subjects beyond food, and dear to my heart, such as living on and honouring this good, green Earth, observing and describing the creatures and people I meet, the places I travel to, and exploring the tremendous changes we face now in this time of crisis and opportunity. I write about anything which inspires and interests me.
I’VE often thought that cooking is a guiding skill for life. Not only does it ensure that one has agency over the kind of food we eat and share, and how we steward the land, but also, if you are the kind of inventive cook who can make something good out of the ingredients to hand, then this ability will serve you in other ways. Life presents us with certain ingredients, whether fresh, rare, bitter, rich, green or sweet. It is up to us what we make of them. Time and temperature completely change the nature of things. It’s our choice whether we cook fast and fiercely or slow and gently. Our attitude as we cook is everything. That is the alchemy.
Sophie Partridge
“BEANS GREEN & YELLOW
In fall
it is mushrooms
gathered in dampness
under the pines;
in spring
I have known the taste of the lamb
full of milk
and spring grass;
today
it is beans greens and yellow
and lettuce and basil
from my friend’s garden
how calmly,
as though it were an ordinary thing,
we eat the blessed earth.”
Cooking Nepales in Mexico
Orchid in Provence
Tomatoes in the village market in Provence
Betty navigating in Provence