“Why are we such a ingredients house?” Groaned a teenage daughter in frustration. Returning from school, tired and starving, she just wanted to open the cupboard and open a packet of something to eat. Instead, walking into the pantry, she was faced with shelves groaning with ingredients. One shelf contained dry goods; flours, rices, noodles and grains. On another pots of herbs, spices, powders and other condiments lurched together in a precarious jigsaw. Tins of tomatoes, beans, fruit and fish were stacked in the corner waiting to be added to a salad, or a stew. The fridge was the same – packets, jars, condiments, vegetables, salads, cheese and meats- all waiting to to assembled into magic.

Now retirement had given me the time to really pursue the magic of cooking. I knew that eating well was an essential part of my treatment. Food is not just fuel. Fuel is medicine. Food provides my body with the wide variety of nutritional elements it needs not just to fight the cancer and its horrible side effects, but to heal and grow. Now I have had a scan that shows healing, as well as a reduction in the activity of my tumours, I am determined to ensure I did what I could to help my body in any way. Feeding it well was an obvious choice. Ingredients became the way forward.

What’s more, I have found an amazing source of inspiration. A lot is said about the damage social media has on society. There are hazards in being online, taking in snippets of video and opinion from uncensored and unfiltered sources. But I am over 50, with a PHD in psychology. I also spend days with in a fugue of treatment, unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time. Very little is said about the possible benefits of social media – but for me it is revolutionary. Not only can I connect with people who are in the same situtation as I am (including finding those who have the same, rarer disease), but, I can dip into the worlds of others and learn. I am not talking following the endless self-proclaimed cancer wellness specialists who advertise their quackery through sugar-free diets or endless juicing- I still have my critical faculties and am aware of fuck-wittery. Instead, I have discovered a rich vein of people posting videos about what they eat and how they live. I watch Korean mums make lunch for their children, Vietnamese families preparing and sharing everyday meals and Japanese workers preparing quick and nutritious one pot meals in their rice cookers. It has been wonderful to learn about different dishes that are eaten at Iftar, to break the daily fast and to see how a Mongolian family prepares their evening meal. I watch people from around the world discuss ingredients, condiments and flavours that I have not experienced before and through their postings I can understand and be part of their worlds. I cannot physically travel across the world anymore, but I can travel virtually online and share their culinary experiences. Worlds of flavours and textures has opened up to me in a way that I have never experienced before. It is marvellous to be able to watch short videos of people peel, pickle, dice, and slice, creating simple, yet sensational meals. Chemotherapy, even the targeted chemotherapy I am receiving, can alter your sensation of taste and smell. Watching soothing videos of egg drop soup with fried tofu, or glistening stir-fried vegetables with rice helps stimulate my appetite and the different videos provided me with the incentive to try new ideas and flavours.

For me, this is part of living well. This world of online sharing allows me to travel from the comfort of my own kitchen and share in the simple daily task of eating well.