Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

Creativity and Innovation in an Interdisciplinary
and Multicultural World: Culinary Ingenuity for
Health’s Sake
by Robin Lynn Treptow
As Biernes (2005, p. 62) observes, “human beings have a long history of
applying their creative abilities to their personal and social survival in unceasingly
new and interesting ways”. Towards this challenge—in realms of nutriments,
ecological welfare, and multicultural sensitivity—the current treatise is undertaken.
Nutrition’s sustenance is vital to life: its purviews reveal a creative persistence
towards a world of no death. This could well be pulled off with multicultural
eco-friendly flair—using global and holistic processing and plain hard work (Nijstad,
De Dreu, Rietzschel, & Baas, 2010).
To sketch out this grand scheme, three goals unfold: 1) framing how
creativity might inaugurate authentic survival-focused living; 2) showing ethically
motivated plant-based diets to be an apropos creativity-oriented goal; and 3)
applying arguments one and two towards survival of Homo sapiens—individual and
communal—using creativity-inspired living. The tenets are approached sequentially.
Thus, I first use everyday creativity to tug at the edges of death’s presumed
certainty; next, I touch on plant-based cuisine’s ethical/health superiority; and
from thence, I draw out a value-based “plan hierarchy” wherein items one and two
operate. A central line of reasoning is that humans’ innate creativity (see Schmid,
2005a; also Nijstad et al., 2010) grants ample latitude to “conquer death by living
well.” Dialogue adheres to these assumptions: 1) humans possess innate, unlimited
creativity; 2) virtue-based multicultural living is a highly desirable good; and 3)
death is not inevitable—but, rather, a solvable human problem. All operates from a
premise that “…being creative…involves imaginative thought, general knowledge,
and some mastery of the medium and the necessary skills” (Schmid, 2005a, p. 6).
Everyday Creativity—An Effective Means to Authentically Live Sans Death?
There is no better era than now to boldly try out Homo sapiens’ capability
to conquer the plague of death via gustatory delight informed by wise choices.
As Satter (2007) remarks, “few cultures have settled for basic survival and have,
instead, endeavored to find food preparation methods that enhance the gustatory
rewards from eating” (p. S144). The situation is an ancient peril turned modern—
scarce food and drink for many of the world’s inhabitants (de Boer & Aiking, 2010)
amidst epidemic ‘globesity’ (World Health Organization, 2014) for myriad others.
Dietary focus on animal-based proteins threatens global homeostasis with resultant
food insecurity (Joyce et al., 2012; de Boer & Aiking, 2010) that destabilizes
transnational prosperity and tugs at our psyche. No wonder fear of death—viewed
by psychoanalyst Firestone (2014) as the “ultimate resistance” to living well—debilitates
and unnerves with (conscious and out-of-awareness) thoughts about death (see
Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1999; also Hayes, Schimel, Arndt, & Faucher,
2010).
But what if death’s dire outcome is merely “self-fulfilling prophecy” gotten
out of hand (see Wurm, Warner, Ziegelmann, Wolff, & Schüz, 2013) or “universal
learned helplessness” (see Abramson,
Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) gone awry
en masse, so that no one believes death
can ever be mastered outright? Recent
literature reveals wiggle-room in the
“cut-and-dried” pathway to death’s finale.
Patterns like positive and negative
cognitive habits linked, respectively, to
healthy and unhealthy behaviors (Wurm
et al., 2013; Meisner & Baker, 2013);
cognitive and physical declines attributed
to “growing older” (Kotter-Grühn,
Kleinspehn-Ammerlahn, Gerstorf &
Smith, 2009) rather than “disuse” as
fitness expert Peterson (2008) suggests
is the case; and anticipated decreases in
subjective well being with greater age
(Ryff, 1991) match self-fulfilling prophecy
and universal learned helplessness
worldviews. Additionally, perceived
lacks of control impact functional
health, cardio-metabolic risk, and physical
activity (Infurna & Gerstorf, 2013;
2014). People expect to die and so
choose unhealthy behaviors (e.g., eating
poorly)—thinking that nothing can be
done (see Goldenberg & Arndt, 2008).
Against this sobering (yet
erstwhile hopeful) backdrop—“death
exists now but must be conquered”—I
juxtapose reflections from the initial two
chapters of Therese Schmid’s (2005a;
2005b) edited book, Promoting Health
Through Creativity. Her key concept is
mundane (ordinary) creativity—which
per Nijstad and others (2010) “helps us
to adapt to changing circumstances, to
solve everyday problems, and to create
new opportunities” (Runco, 2004).
Noting that industrial development has
diminished it, Schmid (2005a; 2005b)
makes broad-reaching contention for
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