Kitchen Therapy

Hastings has been working in the caring professions for thirty years where she uses knowledge of teaching to help people meet their emotional needs through food. Her initial training as a psychodynamic therapist has been combined with a systemic, family-informed practice, as well as her own anthropological background. A recipe of personal and professional experience following a childhood split between three generations of complex family and cultural dynamics, has paved the way for Kitchen Therapy.

In this original, honest, unputdownable and loveable book, Hastings shows how communal cooking is both physiology and symbol, history and present moment, life support and social bond, convention and creativity, pleasure and therapy. Gnaw at it, enjoy it, try its recipes – satisfaction guaranteed. Jeremy HolmesHon Professor of psychological therapies, University of Exeter, UKKitchen Therapy brings a surprising, playful, and embodied new dimension to psychotherapy. Food -- its preparation and consumption -- is replete with ancient, communal meanings. What a wonderful pathway into psyche!Lisa Marchiano, LCSW, NCPsyAWriter, Jungian Analyst, PodcasterIn this truly unique publication, Hastings integrates her expertise in the two seemingly disparate fields of psychotherapy and cooking with great creativity and optimism. I deeply recommend this extremely memorable book, based on a vast range of experience, to every single human being.Professor Brett Kahr, author, and Senior Fellow at the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology in London