What do you take when you have to evacuate?

The fires in LA county have been devastating, with thousands of homes burning down, including entire neighborhoods and a huge swath of a whole city. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate, leaving nearly everything behind and hoping for a miracle. One of those people is food writer and editor Kat Thompson, who shared why she didn’t take anything from her kitchen when she evacuated.

Those of us with collections of kitchen items like enameled cast iron pans, antique tools, signed or vintage cookbooks, and other kitchen ephemera might think we would grab a few items on our way out the door because they are so dear to us. Thompson, who left in less than 30 minutes as the smoke thickened around her, did not even think about going into the kitchen to get anything. Instead, she threw a few pieces of clothing into a duffel bag, grabbed a few pieces of artwork, and essential items like passport and wallet. Her pink Le Creuset collection, signed cookbooks, prized KitchenAid mixer were left behind.

Thompson said she felt no regret about abandoning those cherished kitchen items. She realizes that the items she has collected are not irreplaceable no matter how dear they are to her, and this experience has encouraged her to resist the barrage of advertising that pushes us to buy more and more. In the end, says Thompson, “It’s not about the tools we use for cooking or the vessels that hold our dishes, but the recipes that we will always carry.”