Cooking for Care

Cooking can be much more than a daily task; it can be a grounding, creative and nurturing activity that supports your emotional wellbeing, and fosters a sense of connection to those you cook for. In this video, Abbie shares how spending time in the kitchen helps her slow down, process emotions and reconnect with herself and others.

Cooking encourages you to focus on simple sensory experiences: the smell of fresh ingredients, the sound of chopping, the warmth of stirring a pot. These small details can help you find calm and feel at ease.

You don’t need to cook anything complicated. Abbie recommends choosing a simple dish you enjoy – something familiar that brings comfort. In her video, she cooks puff puff, a delicious fried snack with African origins, and reflects on how cooking different dishes reconnects her to the people who taught her to cook them, and the moments that have shaped her life.

A key theme of this video is how cooking can create meaningful connection. Preparing food for someone else, or sharing a meal together, can help build relationships and provide a meaningful way to spend time with others. When cooking next, think about who taught you the recipe, the first time you made it, and how people responded.

This resource shows how an everyday task can become an enjoyable moment of calm, reflection and mindfulness.

Whether you’re inspired by Abbie’s ideas or put your own spin on them, cooking can become a meaningful way to support your wellbeing.

We’d like to thank our project partner Afrowales who led and coordinated the development of this resource.