by Peggy Markel

Hello fans of intotheSoup.com. In my first column on this beautiful site, I wanted to talk to you about travel, food (of course), change and good conversation.

In September, I had the opportunity to cook for illustrious poet David Whyte, and 30 of his students, in the Tuscan countryside for a week. Normally, I teach more than I cook. Yet, cook I did, without recipes as if the Tuscan cuisine was a part of me. The experience was a harvest time of the last 17 years of my work in Tuscany and a great opportunity to bring nourishment to a group of hungry poets and appreciators of David’s incredible work with the human spirit.

While there, I found that this experience was changing me. I was faced with a deep question. I felt I needed more courage to expand my travel and cooking programs to include a broader and deeper context of exploration.

For all its intensity, 2009 was a rich time – a time of serious groundlessness in the world, and personally for me as well.  But to allow change, I need to acknowledge the need for change and allow it to happen, rather than resist it. The most important thing I choose to remember is: Change is refreshing.

My programs have always been transformative and guests seem to go home feeling quite happy, but there’s more to enlivening a journey. I thought about the great conversations that I had with these young poets and how important conversation is to good travel and a good meal. The journey is not just about where you go or how you get there, but with whom you share your table.

This holds true for any adventure whether it is a trip to an exotic land or just exploration of good food at home with friends. The table is a platform for gathering. What would the table be with all this delicious food if we were not all sitting around it conversing?

When the food is good at an Italian table, everyone talks about the last great meal they had. The conversation centers mostly around food, an experience that naturally nourishes them. Yet, I’m interested in taking it to another level.

It was on this topic, through a literary friend from the UK, that I was introduced to another philosopher and writer, Theodore Zeldin.  “He presents topics of conversation like a menu.” said Eleanor.

To quote Zeldin,

“The kind of conversation I’m interested in is one which you start with a willingness to emerge a slightly different person. It’s always an experiment, whose results are never guaranteed. It involves risk. It’s an adventure in which we agree to cook the world together and make it taste less bitter.”

I began to think about great travel companions. How perfect it would be to travel with Rumi, the 13th century Sufi mystic poet. How fun would it be to converse over a meal that we have cooked together in the wood-fired ovens of Tuscany, sitting down to roasted goodness, with a few bottles of 100% Sangiovese, or a Moroccan dinner of chicken tagine with our own preserved lemons, under the stars … or moored in a bay off the coast of Capri, eating freshly caught fish with local herbs and tiny tomatoes.. I digress.

Travel confronts us with people living very different lives. “Humanity is a family that has hardly met.” says Zeldin. Food and good conversation bring us that opportunity to get to know one another.

In Morocco in November, inspired by time with David Whyte and good conversations past, I introduced poetry as a new element to my trips. Rumi’s references to food are many, and it proved to be a welcomed addition as we read a poem while sitting at the table under a carob tree in the garden, or riding down a long stretch of road. Poetry offered “food for thought” while cooking, dining and traveling.

Change is happening all around us. Embrace it. We have the opportunity to bring life and style together in creative ways and have the conversations to bring us closer.

Enjoy the journey, everyone. I look forward to blazing new trails with intotheSoup.com in the new territory ahead.

Peggy Markel

 

To see Peggy Markel’s many Culinary Adventures: Connecting Cuisine Culture & Lifestyle

Click Here To View our Featured Culinary Trip: Tuscany – La Cucina al Focolare – Cooking by the Fireside

Peggy has provided a Morroccan Kefta Recipe for our Members. Check it out by signing in and Clicking Here: Recipe

About Peggy Markel

Peggy Markel is the Owner and Operator of Peggy Markel’s Culinary Adventures. In 1993, she started The Ligurian School of Poetic Cooking (1993–2000), with Angelo Cabani, master chef and proprietor of Locanda Miranda in Tellaro, a small village on the Italian Riviera. For the past 17 years Peggy has traversed the Mediterranean and North Africa, from Elban fishing villages and Moroccan markets to the homes of Tuscan artisans and chefs, furthering her own exploration of culture and cuisine. “For me, a connection to real food is a connection to life.” Peggy’s journeys help people explore the cuisines of Tuscany, Sicily, Morocco, Almafi, and India.