Are we ever truly healed? A question I asked myself as I began to write the first printed copy of The Aphrodisiac Kitchen 01. The original title was going to be On Healing, but I realized our obsession with healing may be unhealthy. We fixate too much on being healed, on the destination, on the “you know what, I wrapped up here, now it is time for the next.” But does that ever really happen? Are we ever truly healed?

Do you miss the adolescence of healing yourself—of not knowing what you know now? And when did we need fixing? Do you miss yourself before you were “broken?”

I hate the conversation around healing because it makes you believe you are not good enough, right now, in this moment because you’re always thinking of a newer and better you. Your healing is not linear. Darkness is crucial. Nothing last forever, and in every moment we are on this physical realm we are learning. Departure of Youth was originally meant to be published digitally but I was still downloading, still experiencing mental decline while simultaneously evolving into a new capacity. Coming to terms with our temporal bodies and finite being, I became a new self—not a healed self, but a matured me. This magazine, TAK’s first tangible work, is all about my learning process but with no chronological order, no how-to, no “scientifically proven methods,” just my experience with self-acceptance with and without food.

You can expect 10 new stories, over 15 recipes, and some old favorites in this physical copy of The Aphrodisiac Kitchen. Shipments go out every Tuesday.