I think that plants are exceptional and extraordinary. Different kinds of beautiful aromas and textures that come into play when creating dishes is what turns cooking from a chore into a blend of art and science and practicing virtues such as love in the making as a means of nourishing ourselves, but also loved ones.

Vegetables are artists.

I feel emotion in my mouth.

Vegetables are rock stars.

Music of joy plays when I enjoy the bite.

Vegetables are spies.

You don’t know how vegetables can be so adaptable in dishes.

My personal food philosophy is this:

• Don’t be grounded or too focused on food, to lose weight or be obsessed with it.
• Eat to be healthy, not to escape pain or current situations.
• Eat as a means of fueling yourself. Fuel your body with the right foods.

Most importantly…

• Don’t forget to fuel your spirit with prayer and having your attention on God. This means fast, vigils, repentance, and practice virtues. What you eat is not your salvation. 

Here are some great verses on the topic of food:

Matthew 4:4

“But he answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedth out of the mouth of God.”

Corinthians 10:31

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Mark 7:14-23
And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”

Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

1 Corinthians 8:8
Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.

Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

3 John 1:2
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

1 Corinthians 6:13
“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 10:20-21
No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

Deuteronomy 8:3
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”

Philippians 3:18-20
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 23:20-21
Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.