Food & Thoughts
by Laia Shamirian
Beginnings can be hard but tasty.
You are born, you get an approach of what is life and then, you get close to your 30s and realize life is whatever you choose to. You are the narrator and the main food critic, no guidelines, no pre-elaborated menus.
Why this, why now
Well, not exactly “now”.
Everything started on 2020, after experiencing life as a biologist and nutritionist, get to travel in a deep transformational way, losing my father and Pichi, a dog for some and my all life companion, I sat down and started writing.
What came out of it is also related to a previous chapter. Since I was 26 I knew life, or at least my life, could not be reduced to work an amount of meaningless hours, to listen to the collegues complaining about other collegues and all of it, just in order to pay a roof and food (in best scenario, some expensive trips as well).
Then, in between drama and trial - error paths, I found my answer. I discovered what my life was about, not in an enlightened way but through a deep connection with values and life’s spheres I didn’t know they existed before.
However, how would I be able to share with family and friends what I mostly found out of silence and lost?
You guess, food storytelling.
The power of food storytelling
In december 2020, I opened my first website called The Ingredients Of Our Story where I used to write food articles on faith and identity.
That website was my answer to: How could I explain the feeling of not belonging anywhere? Or exactly the opposite, could have I found a better way to share the sense of being part of more than one culture than sharing an armenian diasporic Christmas dinner? What about including in your life gratefulness thanks to bread making? Or healing an infidelity preparing yourself a nice meal? (Which would only apply if you are not Shakira)
The big difference between then and now is a two whole years full of valuable learning, of coffees with some of the most inspiring spanish gastronomes and a better understanding on how could I serve you, better.
What happened along this two years
I won a Food Literary Residence, I became a food journalist, I got to be interviewed by Punt Avui, Kan Radio Israel & Bon Viveur and did my first TV appearence. I created on my own two websites on wordpress where SEO and analitycs became essentials. I was mentioned on a list of spanish food writers with something to add by Albert Molins, who is as generous as a knowledgable person on gastronomy
Thoughts & Food comes out with the aim of combining both passion and learning to get to inspire, share and reflect on the world through the lens of food.