Good food, good company, and a great conversation - and especially the three in combination - are among the greatest of life’s pleasures. I like to help others create space for such joyful experiences in their lives. I teach spirited cooking classes, as well as orchestrate cooking parties and corporate team-building events.

I originally came to cooking from a background in fashion. Nowadays, I like to encourage my students to trust their instincts and be their own designers. Creative inspiration can come from anywhere, from a trip to the Southwest, from an encounter with a green zebra tomato at a local greenmarket, from that great felafel that you picked up on the corner, from reading an exotic memoir, from a “ mistake” in the kitchen.

Cooking is a lifelong journey, and the twists and turns are endlessly fascinating.

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind. It’s worth using the highest quality “real food” ingredients, locally grown or produced if possible. Try not to surf on the latest fad-based dietary wave. Savor ingredients that have been favored by long cultural traditions. For the best-tasting results, use healthy traditional fats, (yes, fat makes flavor!) and remember, salt is your friend. One of my relative’s friends brags about his salt free food, but I’m not rushing to his house for dinner. High quality sea salt draws the flavors of a dish together and furthermore, it’s good for you.

What is healthiest for you is also what is healthiest for the planet. Local food is fresher, picked riper, often grown without excessive pesticides and requires a minimum amount of fossil fuel to get to market. Furthermore, it just tastes better. Compare a peach so ripe and juicy that it falls apart as you eat it to the mealy versions so common in most supermarkets.

Nourishment is not only what we eat, but how we eat. Slow down, pay attention, and really taste your food. Keep in mind the pleasure, or “hedonist” factor, and that a meal should make one feel satisfied and lively after eating it. Splash love into your food, call down blessings on your kitchen, your family and friends, even as you wash and chop and slice. Nourish one another, as deeply as you can.

Myra Kornfeld is the author of The Healthy Hedonist Holidays; A Year of Multi-Cultural Vegetarian-Friendly Holiday Feasts (October 16, 2007, Simon and Schuster Publishers), The Voluptuous Vegan: More than 200 Sinfully Delicious Recipes for Eggless, Meatless, and Dairy Free Meals (now in its sixth printing from Clarkson Potter, October, 2000) and The Healthy Hedonist; More than 200 Delectable Flexitarian Recipes for Relaxed Daily Feasts. (Simon and Schuster, 2005).

Myra has contributed articles to Natural Health magazine and Organic Style, and is a frequent contributor to Vegetarian Times. She teaches classes in ethnic, classic, and vegetarian cooking at The Natural Gourmet School of Food and Health and the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. A veteran restaurant chef and consultant, Myra worked for six years creating innovative vegan cuisine at New York’s Angelica Kitchen. She has been a guest instructor at numerous schools including the New York Jewish Community Center, Classic Thyme in New Jersey and at Sur la Tables around the country. She frequently teaches individual and group private classes and coordinates cooking parties. Myra specializes in corporate team building events, with clients including Jurlique, Credit-Suisse, Colgate-Palmalive, Alliance Bernstein, and American Express.