My main motivator is that I don’t see food as just a way of fueling my body. Very often it’s also the only way I can reconnect with the deep homesickness I often feel. Learning how to cook the things I miss and definitely can’t get abroad is something that calms me and tells me that everything is going to be fine.
My first year in SF I used to have extremely sad crying days when I would be like I can’t get this or that and then I knew I had to just make it myself