Stepping into the workshop of Cooking & Living, located near Binjiang Market in Taipei City, we are greeted like old friends by one of the founders, Janet Wu. The mezzanine design of the space seems to encourage visitors to slow down and explore.

Students use their creativity to mold distinctive Penghu-style animal figurines from rice-flour dough, a fun and stress-relieving activity.

Dinner’s up!

At 7 p.m., the attendees take their seats as the other founder, Kemson Chang, pours the drinks, helping his guests get a pleasant buzz on before diving into the joy of cooking.

Cooking & Living’s “Dinner at Half Past Seven” classes are designed for people with regular office jobs, with the workshop’s team preparing the ingredients ahead of time and streamlining the cooking process so that everyone can get involved without having to do everything themselves. For their Indian curry class, for example, the menu includes fruit lassi, naan, vegetable curry, and tandoori chicken. Chang gives a rundown of the properties of the spices used, getting everyone to sample each of them before taking turns adding them to the wok. Then the cooking is turned over to his partner as Chang leads everyone through the other dishes.

Wu and Chang also share the stories of the ingredients as they cook. They go through the different types, terroirs, and nutritional information of the ingredients, as well as how to select them. Additionally we hear about their new discoveries for combining foods, such as the surprisingly delicious combination of mullet roe and mandarins, which expand our culinary imaginations.

They like to seek out the best ingredients by going straight to production areas. As well as using these carefully selected ingredients in their classes, they are happy to share with the participants the stories of the small famers they collaborate with. “Things like the difference in taste between conventionally farmed adzuki beans and ones farmed with en­viron­mentally friendly methods, the impacts of different farming methods on the ­en­viron­ment, and so on—in fact this is all key information for choosing ingredients.” When consumers have acquired this knowledge, they will be better equipped to choose ingredients from environmentally aware farmers in the future.

Cooking as therapy

Before starting Cooking & Living in 2016, Chang and Wu were office workers themselves, always working overtime, eating out three meals a day, and feeling worn out at the end of a long day’s work. Hoping for a better quality of life and enjoying the thrill of cooking with friends, the two of them decided to set up in business together.

They initially thought about simply running a “co-cooking space,” but Wu felt that a space like this could benefit from the human touch, and so they tried bringing in their own cooking and stories. This kind of personal interaction became the major differentiator between Cooking & Living and other cooking classes, injecting a little warmth into the cold, uncaring city. Wu tells a story about one guest who had a foul look on his face the whole way through a session. Out of respect, they didn’t try and push him, carrying on sharing their cooking discoveries as usual. That evening happened to involve a lot of chopping and cutting, and Wu noticed that this guest’s expression gradually lightened up along the way. Afterward, he came up to her and mentioned that he’d had a rough day at work and hadn’t expected that the class would help him lift that cloud, but it did.

Cooking & Living likes to share stories about ingredients, fostering connections with the places where they are produced.

Conscious living

After a few years of trial and error, Chang and Wu have accumulated a good amount of cooking experience, as well as bringing an art specialist, Zeng Yide, on board. This has helped round things out, gradually making Cooking & Living into a brand with a focus on flavor, sensory experiences, and lifestyle aesthetics. Since the launch last year of their seasonal “Island Eating” classes, they have been exploring Taiwanese culinary culture in greater depth. One dish they have looked at is the “shell zongzi” of Penghu, a traditional offering for Tomb Sweeping Day. Wu explains that “the seashells are symbolic of money, and people in Penghu make shell zongzi and bring these with them when they go tomb sweeping. They crack the shells open and use them as spoons, leaving them on the graves after they finish eating. Shimmering and shining in the sun, the shells serve as a symbol of prosperity for future generations.”

With social change, however, fewer and fewer people know how to make these shell zongzi. Wu went back home to Penghu to learn the method, then began looking into ways to develop more modern ­recipes. Meanwhile, Zeng, who is adept at visual aesthetics, has worked to incorporate elements of Japanese shell painting, inviting guests to paint the shells and store them in wooden boxes. “We hope that this culinary culture, which is laden with history, will become part of people’s memories,” says Chang.

By getting all five senses involved in the cooking process, they want their guests to realize that cooking isn’t nearly as hard as they might imagine. Opening up the senses and learning to use them to distinguish good foods from bad is also part of what Cooking & Living hopes to leave its customers with.

Cooking & Living scours Taiwan and its surrounding islands in order to offer deeper insights into the country’s culinary culture. The shell zongzi we see here, for example, are a shared memory among the people of Penghu. (courtesy of Cooking & Living)

Slow down and enjoy nature

Hidden away in a residential building in the mountains of New Taipei City’s Xindian District is Northbirds—Natural Aesthetics Time for Adults, a workshop dedicated to teaching botanical illustration to adults. Graced with wood furnishings and specimens of plants, insects, and birds, as well as full-length windows looking out onto a small garden where birds sing, the place seems unusually tranquil. The founder, Wu Pei-hsuan, is also known as “Teacher Northbird.” Always smiling, Wu speaks slowly, her voice exuding a calming energy.

On each desk, she has prepared watercolor pencils, graphite pencils, brushes, and magnifying glasses, as well as one potted plant for each participant, who will be working with it for the day. Wu starts off by introducing the plants, going over where they are native to, how they grow, and how they can be used in daily life, helping everyone keep in mind that our lives are actually intim­ately linked with such flora.

Next, she guides everyone through a careful observation of every detail of the plants, from the leaf shape and arrangement to how they flower, the sepals and bracts, and how they are pollinated. “Understanding the relation­ships between each of the structures makes it more meaningful to draw the plant,” says Wu. Keeping up a gentle pace, she leads the students through drawing, starting with the stem. Wu gives a demonstration first, then turns things over to the students, waiting until they’re done to move on. With her step-by-step teaching and guidance, even absolute beginners can produce beautiful botanical art.

Janet Wu (right), Kemson Chang (middle), and Zeng Yide (left) jointly run Cooking & Living, offering courses that enrich the senses and communicate the concept of “conscious living.”

Sowing seeds of love

Unlike the expressionistic paintings we find in galleries and shops, botanical illustration focuses on accuracy and is more time-consuming, requiring a deep understanding of plant structures. Northbird classes take six or seven hours, and by taking one, you can set aside your everyday worries and spend the day with nature. Wu’s lessons give participants a new way to observe plants through touch, smell, and close examination. Most people’s view of plants doesn’t go beyond their practical uses and aesthetic appeal. “Many people don’t know that you can observe flora in such close detail,” says Wu, “but a bit of guidance will help them fall in love with the plants.”

For Wu, the real highlight of the classes is letting the students take away the potted plants they’ve drawn and care for them at home. “They get to observe the life cycle of the plant—flowering, fruiting, and wither­ing—and how it will slowly perk up again after water­ing if it has got too dry. Looking after a plant is very interactive,” says Wu with joy in her voice. When we realize that plants, however small, have so much to teach us, and when we look on these silent life forms more as equals, we may perhaps begin to appreciate the spiritual lessons Wu has learned from plants. “Plants don’t clamor for attention, but they do use other methods, like color, fragrance, posture, and touch to let us know that they exist. The same is true of people. There are so many standards we feel we need to live up to, but they belong to the mundane world—we don’t have to live by those standards to make others notice us; we can have our own unique ways of living. Accept yourself and find your own way to live comfortably in the universe,” says Wu tranquilly.        

Northbirds Natural Aesthetics is a workshop that offers a peaceful place for adults to indulge in botanical art classes. (courtesy of Wu Pei-hsuan)

Wu Pei-hsuan has combined her loves for teaching and botanical art. She offers only a few classes, believing that she has enough income to live well enough. She is satisfied with the simplicity of her life.

Botanical art is known for its focus on details, like leaf veins, inflorescences, and stamens. Each stroke tests your patience and sharpens your mind.

Wu Pei-hsuan guides people in carefully observing plants and feeling the beauty and majesty of life in the growth of every leaf and flower.

With our days often so busy and chaotic, we need to take care of ourselves and take time to relax, enjoy tranquility, and reenergize body and spirit.