There are millions of nudists in America, and because they are people, they do many of the same things other people do — they just do them naked.
As revealed in a recent New York Times feature detailing the lives of the naked residents of the Lake Como Family Nudist Resort in Lutz, Florida, this roster of otherwise normal tasks and activities nudists happen to perform naked includes cooking, because why wouldn’t it?
According to the Times, however, the connection between food and nudity is more than incidental, with writer Priya Krishna pointing to early connections between nudism and vegetarianism as evidence that “the nudist movement has historically been connected to food.”
That connection still exists today, with food and cooking taking on a variety of different roles in the lives of individuals in the nudist community.
“I feel freer and more imaginative when I am nude while cooking,” one nudist preparing for a nude dinner party told the Times, while another expressed a certain similarity she found between the acts of cooking and being nude. “It is very creative,” Karyn McMullen said. “It is very do-your-own-thing. You take what you want and leave the rest.”
McMullen also cites nudity for helping her accept her body and develop a healthier relationship with food. Once weighing over 300 pounds, McMullen found the unease and embarrassment she felt in plus-size swimwear dissipated when she started stripping down entirely at nude beaches instead. “For the first time, no one was looking at me. No one was judging. I knew right then that this was for me,” she told the Times.
Naked cooking isn’t without its risks, however. “I have scars all over my tummy and the top of my boobs from cooking,” nudist Nancy Rehling told the Times, while McMullen admitted that she typically microwaves precooked bacon rather than frying it herself (for obvious reasons).
However, as various cooks pointed out, certain safety and hygiene concerns are always present in any cooking — nude or otherwise. As McMullen told the Times, “It’s not about the bacon. It’s about the freedom.”
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