From Scratch

So late last night My Uncle Jeff, one of the many people in my life whom I hold responsible for my obsessive compulsive fixation with cooking and eating, sent along this article written by Michael Ruhlman:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-ruhlman/message-to-food-editors-w_b_555003.html

The basic jist of this being, that the food companies, and Rachel Ray, and Burger King are all telling us that we should commit less time to cooking, because it's hard and time consuming. Ruhlman's response, and I couldn't have said it better myself, is BULLSHIT.

for some reason I've got a major bee in my bonnet about this. Ruhlman gets into some things here that I think we all know are a major problem in this country--that the processed food companies, and the pervasiveness of their product, their packaging, and their message, has not only made it easier for us to avoid doing something for ourselves and our families as basic as cooking a meal, but they've hurt our health as well by peddling us crap and telling us it's "food." This is all true, and it's a really dangerous state of affairs. But there's another issue tied up in this one that speaks to me personally--I'm a home cook who learned early on that cooking and eating are inextricably tied up with relationships and family, and I'm deeply disturbed by the fact our country's "food culture" (BIG sarcasm quotes around that one) has actually managed to discourage many of us who might have otherwise been inclined to become active home cooks, by bombarding us with the message that cooking is somehow a major pain in the ass, (rather than a joy) and therefore not worth doing. I think this whole idea deprives us of a really basic form of social expression, one that has been with us since we were charring wooly mammoth on spits over an open fire and picking nits out of our neighbor's hair.

For those of you who are just joining the party, I'll just say up front that food and cooking has always been a huge part of my family life, and I learned from a very young age that adults cook. It's how we feed ourselves. It's how we feed our children. But it's also an incredibly longstanding, traditional way of solidifying relationships with friends, relatives and neighbors. What better way to say to someone "Hey, I like you," than to feed them? I just never thought of cooking as optional.

Apparently I'm in the minority here, because I'm shocked by how many adults my age or older just never learned how to cook. We're grown now, we're getting married and having babies and starting families, but we still don't know how to cook. And why would we? We can grab a Big Mac, we can pop something in the microwave, and if we're feeling really ambitious, we can put on some water to boil and make Mac 'n Cheese. And let me be really honest here for a second: I HAVE DONE ALL OF THESE THINGS. But when you have an entire generation that chooses these quickie "food products" to the exclusion of cooking real food at all, ever...well I worry about a couple of things. I worry about our health, for sure. And I worry about the health of our kids, the ones who are going to grow up on processed non-food because Kraft foods and Stouffers taught my generation that you don't have to know how your food (or your kids food) is made anymore, and you certainly don't have to make it yourself, you just have to buy it. But I also worry about the food culture of those kids. The ones who aren't going to be exposed to the subtle social and cultural benefits of sharing the act of cooking with those you care about.

Ever make cookies for a friend when you were too broke to buy them a birthday gift, only to find that they were more psyched about the fact that you went to the trouble to cook for them than they ever would have been about another blouse or a CD? Ever have someone cook you dinner one a second or third date, rather than just going to a movie? (And wasn't that person always just that much more likely to get lucky? Admit it.) Ever perch on a stool in your mom's kitchen while she fixed dinner and tell her all about your day while she nodded and stirred and listened? I did.

Cooking real food, from scratch, is time consuming. Sometimes it's even a pain in the ass. But regardless of what the food companies and the fast-food mega chains tell us, it's also fun, and sexy, and creative, and one of the surest, oldest, most visceral ways of reinforcing our relationships with one another. I'm fascinated by food not only because I'm a glutton, and like the way food tastes (and I do), but because for me, food is emotional. Cooking and eating with my family sets off all of the happy little buzzers in the most primitive parts of my brain that tell me that I am a part of a tribe, and that we will care for each other. And if that's not worth learning and passing along to your friends and your kids, then I don't know what is. Yes, it is a time consuming pain in the ass, but then, so are the people you love.

So.

What's for dinner tonight?