Have you ever been to a party…

Everyone gathers in the kitchen - squeezing in, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, having a great time - even when there's an entire house full of comfortable chairs sitting empty. And, there's food being shared of course! If you're like me, you've forgone a plate, and you're hovering around the appetizers sampling, and re-sampling a little bit of all of it.

What is it that makes the kitchen the natural gathering space - the so-called "heart" of the home? Here's a cute story that sums it up quite nicely: I was taking a walk with my son around the neighborhood to get a bit of exercise. I had baked brownies earlier that day and we had each enjoyed a yummy, warm, brownie with melty chocolate chips on top. Mmm. As we were walking, I told him there was a secret ingredient in the brownies. He said, "Let me guess, its love." And, I gave him a big smile and told him he was exactly right. But what I had been about to reveal as the secret ingredient, was black beans. Gluten-free, dairy-free, black bean brownies. Because I'm a food nerd like that. But, love was such a better answer! And, true too!

Love is the answer to why the kitchen is the gathering space - we're showing our love, communicating, connecting, fueling our bodies, and sharing the space while sharing food.

Recently, I was honored to have a conversation with Amalia Moreno-Damgaard, an award-winning author, classically-trained chef, a leading authority of Latin cuisine, and a hidden gem in Minnesota. Amalia is a former banker, entrepreneur, mom, experience-maker, sought-after speaker, and frequent guest on local media. In our conversation, she told me that food was of "intrinsic value in her life" which she now attributes to her Grandmother, who was also an entrepreneur who ran a store that catered to the community. She recalls those as precious times, her grandmother as a good person with good values. whom she calls her "North Star."

Even during her banking career, she was making the connection with food and people organically. There would be work parties and potlucks, where Amalia would always bring Guatemalan food, and she loved entertaining and cooking for her guests. Amalia shared that her "kitchen is her happy place," where she can look at the ingredients, vegetables, what she has available…its that creative process where she can make something nourishing and delicious. Further, she said it's "that creative process that brings peace and joy. It's very rewarding." Showing bit of humor, she shared that food is important because she likes to eat! [Me too!] And, she been a foodie for a longtime.

More seriously, Amalia told me, "I sensed a long time ago that food is the common denominator and a platform. It's an important platform to talk about anything under the sun. Why it's important now, is that we live in different times…I think that we can talk about difficult things with food on the plate or when food is present. Or, we can start with a food conversation and then connect that to a situation, and it's really easy to do that - to flip back and forth." She went on to say that we can talk about the food of different countries and why we love each of them, then talk about the different cultures, histories, and difficult discussions, when they are appropriate.

She emphasized that "food is important now because we something lighter, something fun, and something delicious. And something that we all need to nurture our bodies. Food is also an opportunity to learn about the food world - there are so many ingredients. It's an opportunity to manage our weight, nurture the body, improve our eating, increase the amount of vegetables we're eating, to explore the great, great variety of natural ingredients that are out there that many people don't realize are out there."

"I like to talk about diversity in the sense that when I moved to the Twin Cities in 2001, there wasn't a lot of diversity…the diversity that we see today has so many great things at the Farmer's Markets. I see the difference in the diversity, in the variety, in nutrition, in the opportunity to do things differently, and the opportunity to bring that culture to the forefront in a more meaningful way. It creates jobs. It creates opportunities to eat healthier and less processed food, which I advocate for often. I advocate for plant-forward eating, which is not the same thing as plant-based. Because that is what I eat at home."

What she's teaching, when she's speaking, when she's presenting, and in her demonstrations it is no different than what she does at home. So it's easy for her to relate it, to tell people that it is healthy for you, nutritious, delicious, and easy to make. You'll learn some techniques that you can use in other dishes, you'll learn about a new cuisine or two, and you're going to bring new ingredients to your diet and into your repertoire. It comes back to unleashing your creativity, with food as the palette.

She loves to travel (as do I), and Amalia related that the more she travels around the world, the more similarities she sees, the more synergies, the more learning, the more food for thought, and the more yumminess. Cheers to sharing food with love in the kitchen and finding more yumminess in our travels and in life.

You can learn more about how to work with Amalia at https://amaliallc.com/.