Who is David Lee?
David is a graduate of the Natural Gourmet Culinary School which was founded on the principle that what we eat significantly affects our physical, mental and spiritual well-being. In providing a holistic approach towards food, David uses whole, natural, organic, unprocessed, and unrefined ingredients. Tastes and ingredients are important, moreso, the mindset of the preparer. Here's to conscious eating!
Thoughts on Food
Preoccupation with whole, local, seasonal food, today's
food mantra, creates the illusion of a food/spirit separa-
tion. Just as food served on a dirty plate can not nourish
the senses, food prepared/eaten in a disinterested way
can not nourish the spirit. Ideally we are eating food that, along with other practices, facilitates meditation.
Towards that end, applying spiritual awareness is of pri-
mary importance, and is the one principle often neglect-
ed in regards to food.
We treat food today merely as a tool to keep us going, analyzing it for its vitamin, protein, and fat content, disregarding how it was grown/ prepared, and our state of mind when we eat it. Nevertheless, over the millenia, food has been regarded as sacred, each encounter an opportunity to connect with the Higher Self. The Bhagavad Gita states that imparting a consciousness of love to food is an integral aspect of the spiritual path - if the cook is not of a loving, calm nature, the food won't benefit you. Master Dogen, the 13th c. developer of Buddhist meal meditation, made the role of cook one of the most important in the monastery, second to the Abbot. It is not food then, but the sacred understanding of food, that will nourish both body and soul.