At the beginning of the chef training, Sayuri asked each one of us “what do you want to get out of the course?” I said without a doubt: “I want to learn all the secrets behind your famous desserts”. It was fantastic learning this but in retrospect, that was not the icing on the cake (pun intended). The paradox of it all is being dogmatic towards what one thinks is ultimately healthy is unhealthy.

I’m really grateful to be in the company of plant based chefs and teachers who think this way. A sign of a very mature teacher is one who doesn’t shove information down the student’s throat (because of the training they were accustomed to) but empowers them to find their own balance through smart discernment and experimentation. A teacher who’s not so mature in the health and plant based culinary field is one who will focus on just food or the external stuff forgetting that health starts with cognition. I’ve encountered judgmental vegans who are miserable but people who eat processed food and so called “crap” like crazy but aren’t affected by it as much because mentally, they’re so positive, loving, and don’t do it as a form of self sabotage. Or even people who are yogis in the truest sense of the word but have never stepped on a mat or entered a shala! There are a gazillion other tools and human-created “permission slips” out there to be healthy and what I learned so ironically in a raw chef training is diet is only a tiny speck. Thank you Sayuri for making me discover what health is by expressing it in every way possible. I know we could have learned from you anywhere or in any way but the kitchen was a really great venue for all this!

Celine Fernando

2016 Raw Chef Training Level 1