Love and Cooks

I am NOT what one would call a "good cook." I know a fair amount about medicinal  
herbs but very litle about standard American cooking. My mother was neurotic about 
her kitchen and would never allow me near it. What cooking I learned was from my 
grandmother.  I spent my youth outdoors, gardening with my father, therefore trees 
and plants became my passion. 
All my life I've eaten simple food but with a priority on health.

BUT I devour stories about cooks who can transmit love and emotion
into food, thereby turning a sad environment into love, lust and beauty.
I suggest two of my favorite movies that describe just such events.

Babette's Feast 
A hauntingly beautiful story of 2 sisters living with their father
in an isolated village in Denmark. Although they both had
opportunities to leave the village, they chose to stay to serve
their father and the church.
Babette, a French refugee, who begs them to take her in, brings
to the village, a real love through her cooking,
I find this movie mesmerizing.

Like Water for Chocolate
Tita and Pedro were in love since they were children but
Tita, according to family tradition, had to remain unmarried
in order to care for her mother. She was raised in the kitchen
of their Mexican ranch, so she could learn what was to be
her duty in life.
Tita's deep emotion with food transfers a love or lust
 into those who partake of her food.

I have dreamed of being able to cook with emotion
........ in fact, even to cook, would please me. But it is
not my lot in life so I absorb the stories of others who
are capable of cooking with love/emotion.

Are you one who leaves love in the hearts of those
who eat your food? What a gift!