CRAFT by Under My Host® Issue No. 16 Made in America: Part I | Page 132

W W W. C R A F T BY U M H . C O M
From KALE & CARAMEL by Lily Diamond (Atria Books 2017)
Food for All Five Senses
Orange blossom pistachio milk. Thyme-scented plum and arugula salad. Lavender blue-
berry cheesecake. Before you write off my food preferences as more annoyingly highbrow
than Blair Waldorf at a sample sale, let me explain.
Every leaf, every petal, has a code. Like any good html, that code unfolds and takes its in-
tended action in the body and mind when given the space to do so. So it is with the plants
that populate these pages. They are your allies, ready to take you back to the wildness of
the senses at any moment.
The relationship between scent and taste is particularly deep. Scent adds a significant di-
mension to taste, synesthesia-style, and dictates our ability to tease apart and experience
complex flavors.
On the most basic level, the smell of a food is carried through our nasal passages when
we chew, inextricably linking taste and aroma. On a more complex level, adding uniquely
fragranced elements to food (like lemongrass and basil to coconut ice cream) transforms
the experience of eating, as well as the flavor.
Scent and memory have a strong scientific bond in the brain: Scent elicits memory more
intensely than any other sense. When I’m eating a rose caramel from my favorite chocolat-
ier in San Francisco, I’m transported to a rose garden in France on a hot July night. Potent.
Sensual.
The recipes in this book – both those to eat and those to anoint your body – are meant
to awaken sensory perception at every level. From learning to select the right produce via
sight, smell, and feel to discerning the textures of each ingredient and tasting or applying
the final product, every recipe is an opportunity to come alive in a new way.

Though food and body care may seem an unusual pairing, the products we use on our
bodies become food for our skin and organs. The body’s largest organ is the skin, and
anything applied to the skin is immediately absorbed into the body. What beautifies within
beautifies without. I keep a jar of raw honey by my sink to use as face wash. I make my
own saltwater hair spritz to use post-shower. I slather myself with coconut, almond, and
olive oils (and yes, sometimes even butter when I’m making a mess in the kitchen).

Keeping my body, skin, and hair healthy with the same vital nutrients and ingredients I use
in the kitchen reminds me, on a daily basis, of my connection to the earth. Its health is my
health. My beautify is inextricably related to the beauty and wholeness of the planet.
As I build upon my mother’s legacy – using herbs and flowers for culinary and aesthetic
pleasure in my own, distinct forms – I find my way out of grief and into a new vitality. A
return to wildness.
These recipes offer a nourishment that goes far beyond nutrition: They are a true food for
the spirit.