The Kitchen

....cooking is not a mixture of ingredients but a harmonious composition of artistic value, nutrient and transcendent, giving the possibility of the best expression to the ingredients as well as to the composition in general. It should be undertaken only in an attitude of deep respect and consideration and full awareness, of the bounty and clemency in the Divine order.

 Bulent Rauf from the Notice to Cooks 

The Kitchen stands at the very heart of Chisholme, just as the preparation, cooking and serving of food, both as a practical matter and as a metaphor for the development of the student, is at the heart of the School's education.

Bulent Rauf (1911-1987) the founder of the School, was a chef of some standing and author of the Turkish section in Robert Carrier's 1967 classic Great Dishes of the World. Since its founding in 1973, long before the era of the Celebrity TV chef, the Chisholme kitchen has been demonstrating the principles, now a commonplace among those interested in good food, of attention to provenance, bringing out the best from the available ingredients, cooking with artistry, and treating every meal, however humble, as an occasion.

The Chisholme kitchen is a place of transformations both inner and outer. In its challenging and generous mirror, students and interns alike, learn the skills necessary to produce wholesome, and uplifting food. More importantly they are encouraged to develop and refine their own sensibilities and to “taste” directly and experientially the principles of love and service that are, in the end, the most vital ingredients in any meal.

Menus are carefully selected to be at once highly nutritious, pleasurable, and properly conducive to both the contemplative and physically active aspects of the courses. The School is not vegetarian but meat is prepared with the deepest respect for its benefit and origin. Meanwhile vegetarian dishes comprise the majority of the food served and are always available as an option.

In this kitchen the best and only chef is love itself.

'I love the atmosphere of enthusiasm in the kitchen at Chisholme, which is reflected in the dishes they serve to such large numbers, hungry from outside work or mental concentration.  Not only is the food influenced by the legacy of Bulent Rauf's love of food - oh for that lovely thick home made yogurt - but also by the multi-national students who bring their experience of diverse cuisines to this remote Scottish moor. For special occasions Chisholme excels and the warm camaraderie of the kitchen spreads to the entire event.'

Josceline Dimbleby - food writer and novelist

Related pages

Notice to Cooks, by Bulent Rauf

The Cool of Detachment and the Fire of Transformation: an article by Aaron Cass 

People, Place and Food: a contemporary story of separation
A talk by Charlotte Maberly with buffet supper. Read the report

We make all our own bread at Chisholme, read about breadmaking here.
Watch how sourdough is made at Chisholme

2011 Future Food symposium