About Izzy
Hi there :). My name is Izzy, thanks for visiting.
I’m Chinese Indonesian, born in Jakarta and grew up in both the US and China. I am a self-taught cook and have been cooking for myself since around 2016. Cooking has become a passion of mine that I am now trying to share with others.
Currently, I live in Montreal working full-time while I work on IzzyPreps on the side. I came from China to study Economics in university. Cooking was a necessity-born passion fueled by my refusal to eat Kraft dinner and outrage at how expensive restaurant food was compared to back home. Fast forward four years and now cooking is basically 80% of what I talk about.
Aside from cooking, I also love weightlifting! I also started lifting out of necessity, back when I was a scrawny little baby who never worked out a day in her life. I worked part-time as a busgirl at a really busy izakaya and was too weak to lift chairs and tables, so I had to get stronger if I wanted to keep my job. In the end I was still the weakest busser since all the others were guys twice my size, but I tried my best and I got a good hobby out of it!
About MindFull Of Cooking & IzzyPreps
IzzyPreps started as an Instagram account in 2016 where I shared my go-to recipes with friends. I was really into meal prep, hence the name, as I started the account as a a full-time student with a part-time job and only had one day of the week to cook. Since then I’ve strayed away from the meal prep life, and have focused more on just loving food and cooking.
This version of my blog, MindFull Of Cooking, is my attempt to raise awareness on the negative effects of diet culture, promote mindful eating, and share the joy of cooking. Yes the name is a pun, and yes I’m proudly unapologetic about it. While my mind may be ‘full of cooking’ since it’s my hobby, I am ‘mindful’ of eating and don’t let it occupy my thoughts to the point where it’s an obsession. Also, I will be posting recipes with specific measurements, but I want to emphasize that recipes are merely a guide and shouldn’t be followed to a T. Your taste preferences will dictate how much of an ingredient you add to a dish, and hopefully through reading my posts you will develop an intuition for free-hand cooking.
A question some might have: what does it mean to be ‘anti-diet culture’? For one, it does not mean anti-people who diet. Diet culture refers to a system of beliefs that prioritize thinness and appearance over actual health and well-being. Blindly promoting weight loss to be synonymous with health without addressing how behavioral patterns actually contribute to health promotes disordered eating and misinformation. Weight and food consumption definitely can affect health negatively, but it is not the only factor. Ironically, obsessing over health is not healthy.
In short, you’re not going to see any recipes here that are ‘low calorie’ or ‘healthier’ versions of some dish. I don’t believe in assigning guilt to certain types of food or creating food restrictions without reason. That shit leads to disordered eating and food obsession real quick. If I want to eat something I will eat it, and I have a good enough sense to know when I should stop eating it. I am aware of how to balance between more nutritionally-dense and less nutritionally-dense foods for myself and I’m hoping I’ll be able to help you find that balance too if you’re struggling.
Let’s be friends!
If you need a place to start on this blog or want some motivation to cook, start here. You can also message me for any questions or comments by going to the contact page! If you are feeling a bit lost and want some advice, or just want to talk about food, hit me up anytime!
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