The Art of Living and Cooking: Unleashing the Practice of Everyday Life Volume

Living and cooking are two essential components of our everyday lives. They play a significant role in shaping our well-being and creating a sense of fulfillment. Michel de Certeau, a cultural critic and historian, conceptualizes these practices in his influential book "The Practice of Everyday Life Volume." This article will explore the art of living and cooking and how they intertwine, offering insights into the various ways we can enhance our daily experiences.

The Significance of Everyday Practices

De Certeau argues that everyday practices, such as cooking, are more than mere routines. They are creative acts that allow individuals to assert agency and make meaning in their lives. These practices are a response to the constraints imposed by society, transforming daily tasks into personal expressions of freedom and identity.

Practice of Everyday Life: Volume 2: Living and Cooking

by Luce Giard (First edition, Kindle Edition)

4.8 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	3088 KB
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Cooking as a Creative Art

When we view cooking as a creative art form, we transcend its utilitarian nature. It becomes a space for experimentation, self-expression, and cultural preservation. Each ingredient, technique, and presentation choice we make communicates something about who we are and what we value.

Breaking the Mundane: The Art of Plating

Plating, the art of arranging food on a plate, is a powerful way to elevate the simple act of eating. It allows us to transform our meals into visual feasts that engage all our senses. The thoughtful arrangement of colors, shapes, and textures adds an aesthetic layer to our everyday experiences, turning a mundane meal into a memorable event.

The Kitchen as a Creative Space

The kitchen is not just a functional room; it is a space where creativity thrives. From experimenting with new recipes to improvising with available ingredients, the kitchen becomes a laboratory for culinary invention. It is a place where tradition meets innovation, and where we can explore our culinary desires without boundaries.

Bringing People Together: The Social Aspect of Cooking

Cooking also has a profound social dimension. Sharing meals with loved ones or hosting dinner parties fosters bonding and creates lasting memories. The act of preparing a meal together becomes a collective endeavor, strengthening relationships and nurturing a sense of community.

The art of living and cooking encompasses much more than fulfilling our basic needs. It is a means to express ourselves, break away from the mundane, and connect with others. By embracing the practice of everyday life volume, we can transform our daily routines into meaningful experiences that bring joy and fulfillment.

Practice of Everyday Life: Volume 2: Living and Cooking

by Luce Giard (First edition, Kindle Edition)

4.8 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	3088 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	342 pages

FREE

To remain unconsumed by consumer society—this was the goal, pursued through a world of subtle and practical means, that beckoned throughout the first volume of The Practice of Everyday Life. The second volume of the work delves even deeper than did the first into the subtle tactics of resistance and private practices that make living a subversive art. Michel de Certeau, Luce Giard, and Pierre Mayol develop a social history of “making do” based on microhistories that move from the private sphere (of dwelling, cooking, and homemaking) to the public (the experience of living in a neighborhood). A series of interviews—mostly with women—allows us to follow the subjects’ individual routines, composed of the habits, constraints, and inventive strategies by which the speakers negotiate daily life. Through these accounts the speakers, “ordinary” people all, are revealed to be anything but passive consumers. Amid these experiences and voices, the ephemeral inventions of the “obscure heroes” of the everyday, we watch the art of making do become the art of living.This long-awaited second volume of de Certeau’s masterwork, updated and revised in this first English edition, completes the picture begun in volume 1, drawing to the last detail the collective practices that define the texture, substance, and importance of the everyday. Michel de Certeau (1925-1986) wrote numerous books that have been translated into English, including Heterologies (1986), The Capture of Speech (1998), and Culture in the Plural (1998), all published by Minnesota. Luce Giard is senior researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and is affiliated with the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. She is visiting professor of history and history of science at the University of California, San Diego. Pierre Mayol is a researcher in the French Ministry of Culture in Paris.Timothy J. Tomasik is a freelance translator pursuing a Ph.D. in French literature at Harvard University.