Still going strong with local eats. Grass-fed sirloin pan-fried with garlic scapes served with yellow summer squash sauteed in duck fat and a tomato, cucumber and parsley salad. The olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing - not local. Everything else - local.
This entire dinner, including chopping, probably took me 30 minutes to make. Certainly no more than that. I see commercials all the time that insist on telling me I have no time to cook real food. They seem to think that since people (read: women) have jobs (outside the home as well as in) and families, fresh food and cooking are far too troublesome. Impossible, even. Why cook when you can reheat?
Thing is, cooking doesn't take all that long; it doesn't have to, anyway. Most meats grill up very quickly, but you can always chuck some chicken or pork in a crock pot, dump some liquid and veggies and herbs along for the ride, and let it cook while you're at work. Roast a chicken on the weekend and use it for salads during the week. If you're making a batch of marinara sauce or soup or chili, make extra and freeze it. There's lots of time-saving kitchen tricks that don't involve a plastic tray and microwave.
I think we've lost a lot of respect for cooking, and for food. I think we've forgotten the benefits of slowing down - stopping, even - and savouring moments. Cooking forces you to slow down and savour, and pay attention. It's a time where we can do something inherently good for ourselves and, even better, for others; we can nourish them, make them smile. I truly believe that little miracles are made in kitchens all over the world every day, and that these little miracles can help create a world that is happier, healthier, more conscious. Frozen, boxed heat-and-serve roast beef and canned veggies fill your gut the same as home-cooked roast and fresh veggies, but they don't fill your mind or your soul the same way. It's empty food. Dead. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein...there's just no THERE there.
If all you can do is one home cooked, fresh, from scratch meal a week, then do it. Even if you live by yourself. I know too many people who live alone and don't bother to cook much because "it's just me, why bother?" Because, silly...it's you. You're worth the bother.
Slow down and get real in the kitchen, and see if it doesn't spill over into the rest of your life. Might end up being just what you needed.
11 comments:
I would spend at least 2 hours cooking dinner, its just me, I don't like to rush it. I like to enjoy my dinner and whenever I rush it, its never how I want it to be if that makes sense.
I have always hated reheated one meal dinner type stuff, hate microwaves too, or packet stuff like a cake out of a box. I would much rather cook from fresh any day and the time it takes is so worth it, even more so now that I think so for nutritional quality rather then just taste.
I remember when pretty much all my food came from a can or box! And I remember how crappy I felt all the time.
I'm the same - I like to take my time and when I do rush, it isn't the same.
I remember when all my food came from boxes and cans too - especially frozen dinners. I've come a long way. Now I order meat from a local farmer's co op and get fresh local vegetables whenever I can. I enjoy cooking.
I think it's sad that people don't cook as much anymore, we are "too busy" to put a decent dinner on the table. It's all about the money - we are encouraged to think that. It's so much more profitable for corporations if we keep eating chemical crap out of the cans and boxes.
One time the pizza delivery girl came to my apartament by habit. I hadn't even ordered a pizza. I switched to a low carb/high protien/high fat/high veggie diet and feel better than I have in years.
Agreed. We're encouraged to buy the "affordable" premade stuff (which is of course made to look high-end in the ads...gourmet frozen pizza, etc), but in whose best interest is it to do so? And what exactly are we doing with all that time we're saving not cooking?
Me too Royce! I used to get pasta at least once a week from a place in my complex...now I slink past them feeling guilty, but slimmer and healthier! One of the owners actually commented on my weight loss and asked for some tips...I lent her Protein Power.
Beautifully said.
Well said!
I think most people have time to do a cooking bonanza - say set aside a Sunday afternoon, make sauces, soups, curries and freeze in individual portions for easy, homecooked meals throughout the week.
Also, the more you cook, the more practice you get and the quicker you'll be. Relying on processed food for speed perpetuates the anti-cooking cycle, which is absolutely making some people very rich.
There is nothing more beautiful or fulfilling than cooking your own food and controlling 100% what you put into your body. Great post because it goes to the core of alot of food issues we have.
Adam;-)
I agree completely, yet people look at me like I'm from Mars when I say this to them. They have absolutely been convinced/brainwashed they have no time for real, home cooked food, yet they find time for all kinds of other things that add no benefit to their lives.
But I am slowly seeing a bit of a change. Recently several businesses opened near me with "communal kitchens" for the lack of a better term. The business does all the shopping, provides the kitchen and tools, and one can cook multiple meals in a session and take them home for eating later. Friends can cook together, too.
Personally, that is not for me (I like cooking in my kitchen), but if that is what it takes for some people to get back in a kitchen making real food, then it's probably a good trend.
Funny you mention that Anna. I got a flyer recently for just that sort of thing. Not for me either, bc I like my kitchen (and heck, I'm home) but it's a good start at least.
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