AMEN.

[badseed1980]

So, whiteboy just posted this NY Times article elsewhere. Basically, it's about how cooking has become not an activity that people do, but a spectator sport, something we watch other people do on TV. It's about how that came to pass, why, and what it means to us as a society.

Let me tell ya, as much as I love watching Food Network and food shows on other channels, I was going "YES! YES! YES!" all the way through this.

Speaking for myself:

1. Going for too long without preparing a meal from scratch makes me feel uneasy and restless, somehow.
2. Going for too long without eating home-cooked food makes me feel physically uncomfortable and unhealthy, most of the time.
3. The food shows I watch DO make me want to get off the couch and cook, to the point that I occasionally get up and start cooking in the middle of a show, nipping back out of the kitchen to see a bit of it now and again. This happens mostly when I'm home alone on weekends.
4. My gods, there really are few pleasures in life like the handling and treatment of high-quality raw ingredients, and the transformation of those things into FOOD.
5. You only have to look at me to know that I love to eat. But I really, really do love cooking just as much. Sometimes I don't feel like it, but in general, it is honestly one of my favorite things to do in life.
6. The average American spends 27 minutes a day on food preparation? *boggle* I'd die.
7. One day, when I have kids, I'm going to teach them to cook. I really look forward to teaching someone how to cook. Heck, if any of my local friends want a cooking lesson, I'll give them one! Seriously! I mean, I'm no expert, but I'm a decent home cook who makes food that people usually enjoy, and I can show people how to do that.
8. One of these days, I really do need to make that Cross-Cultural Seasoning Spreadsheet, which gives a host of spices, herbs, and other seasonings, and lists which types of cuisines traditionally use each one, and then you can sort it by ingredient or by cuisine. That is something I think might be helpful to inexperienced cooks.
9. I am so going to a farmer's market or two this weekend. Yeah! Fresh veggies! They're so colorful and so tasty. I'm so glad that the person who I cook for the most other than myself (that'd be pierceheart) is a veggie fan.
10. Oh, and also, incidentally, I prefer food shows that involve cooking but not competition. Exception: No Reservations is one of my favorite food shows. One of my favorite shows, period. Tony Bourdain is an amazing guide to the world, and not just the world of food.

I almost wish that I were willing to live the life of a restaurant chef. If I were, I think it would be so wonderful. I mean, I love to cook, to plan menus, to source ingredients, etc. I just don't want to have to deal with the hours. Maybe I don't have enough passion for cooking? How can one make a living from one's love for cooking, without ever working in a decent restaurant? Not that I'm looking for a new job, mind you. I do like this one. But I love to cook.

Comments

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

Enjoying cooking for up to 12 or so people on a regular basis and being a professional are two very VERY different things. You simply would not BELIEVE the psycho chaos of a restaurant kitchen.

_the_beast is a professional cook, and while an EXCELLENT home cook, he did use professional techniques (which I later learned). What you see on TV isn't even really how a professional does it in a kitchen.

As an aside, I've had people suggest that I should open a business making bento. I have NO interest in food service in any way, shape or form as a profession or I'd do it. Since you've expressed an interest in cooking professionally, I pass the idea on to you. If you like it, you might very well be able to turn it into something good.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's why I'm saying I wouldn't be able to do a career as a restaurant chef. That and the hours. I mean, Friday and Saturday nights as the busiest work times? Bleah!

I don't really enjoy putting a lot of effort into bento prep. I mean, I like doing it well enough, but it's not the presentation aspects of cooking that interest me the most.

[misc-negro.livejournal.com]

I agree on EVERY one of those points, well except the part about pierceheart... that would be weird if I were cooking for him...

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I doubt he'd mind. He's an equal-opportunity eater. :)

[mings-kitten.livejournal.com]

I adore cooking as does the husband after years of depression (me) and wars of kitchen supremecy we reached an agreement. I get the week to do the fast but yummy home cooking (fast because we stick to rice and pasta and simple things to go with. Nothing that takes over an hour) husband gets the weekend and the "fancy" cooking. I also get baking. This has ended the war and means we usually have homemade food. It just tastes better.

Um basically I agree

[cygninae.livejournal.com]

Tony Bourdain? As in Antony? I LOVE his writing with a passion. There's a magic to cooking that's just...something else completely. As an aside, there are several places I know of which are reknowned bed and breakfasts or hotels which serve meals to their customers, often with a no choice menu. Maybe that sort of thing would be more appropriate?

Or teaching cookery? Passion and enthusiasm for their subject has always been inspiring for me when learning.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Yep, Anthony Bourdain, the Hunter S. Thompson of food, but better looking.

My dad has idly talked about opening a B&B when he retires. I doubt it'll ever happen, but if it did, I'd be first in line to help him plot and test recipes!

[leenah.livejournal.com]

cooking lesson? sign me up. i am happy to learn what my friends can teach me.

i can cook, but i still haven't gotten the right arrangement here. maybe it's not possible, not with what i have. or perhaps i just am not that interested, which is weird, 'cause i LOVE good food.

and, sometimes the things that you are passionate about just don't work as vocations. avocations, yes. i'm okay with that myself - i'm much rather like my work and LOVE my time at home, than the other way around.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

What kind of stuff are you interested in cooking? I'm thinking more about teaching n00bs how to do the basics, than about teaching, say, complex ethnic dishes or ambitions pastry projects or the like. Like, I could show a person how to make a good chili or curry or soup, and teach them how to improvise variations on it. Or I could teach basic knife skills. Or, I suppose, I could teach someone who keeps fucking up recipes how NOT to do that. Or various ways of preparing a given ingredient (a vegetable, a kind of meat, a grain, etc.) If any of that appeals to you, you could come over for dinner some time and dinner prep would be the cooking lesson. :)

[roaming.livejournal.com]

ooh, if you do that, sign me up too! I think the reason I hate to cook is I don't know how to do the basics, really. I can never figure out what goes with what, or how to time what goes first so it all ends up hot and ready AT THE SAME TIME. And when I do cook, even the simplest thing, the kitchen ends up looking like there was a food fight in there. And I guess there was: I was fighting with the food!

I used to have personal chefs who came in every other week and cooked two weeks worth of stuff that I specified. They were great but I had to stop that kind of luxury spending.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Timing is sometimes tough, but there are ways around some of it. :) It's mostly a matter of practice.

You know, I'd be happy to do this sometime. We ought to plan it!

[roaming.livejournal.com]

You're ON! When you get a chance and want to do it, we'll plan it. (Of course you will be recompensed!) I figure it might make more sense to teach me in my own home, so I can get the hang of the dance moves in the phyusical set-up I have?

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Recompensed? Nah. Help me pay for the food, and that'll be good. :) I'll have to put some thought into this, and we can do some planning in advance over e-mail or something.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Heck, if I could afford it, I'd hire you to be our personal chef! Because your food descriptions always sound yummy, and I hate to cook. It bores me. And I find the chronic clean-up annoying. Ya gotta clean up from the prep, and THEN ya gotta clean up the dishes etc when finished. It's all too exhausting.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Chronic clean up IS annoying. That's why I'm grateful I have a boyfriend who's kind enough to do pretty much all of that after I've cooked. :) Also, a dishwasher is indispensable.

I'm currently making apple crisp with fresh Gravensteins from the farm stand!

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

Cooking is what I do to food to make it edible. I can do it; I loathe doing it and I'm not that interested in improving my skills.

Fortunately for me, I married a man who absolutely loves to cook :)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Fortunately for me, my boy's a good cook too!