The Alchemy of Cooking

Abstract

This essay recounts the author’s experience of growing up in a traditional Pakistani home, centered around a patriarchal culture in which men are the protectors and providers of the home and women are the caretakers. The reader is taken on a journey in which the writer moves to the United States, undergoes a drastic individuation process, and finds herself in a relationship with someone who embodies the shadow elements of the Dark Mother archetype. This relationship is crippling in many respects, and yet the writer triumphs by learning how to cook for herself—the alchemy of this act ultimately helps heal and nurture her soul as she finds her way back to Self.