Did you guys catch the cover story of Sunday's New York Times magazine? (Yes: I am currently re-obsessed with everything NYTimes, thanks to all of you for pointing out as much in emails to me...!) Michael Pollen, the closest thing to a demi-god in the world of food (who penned one of my husband's favorite sentences: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.") makes the case that "cooking" has become a sort of spectator activity to most of America and he concludes that this is a sad, sad shame.
The crux of the article is about the intersection of the growing popularity of watching t.v. shows about cooking (Food Network, Top Chef, etc.) with the corresponding phenom of all of us spending less time than ever actually making meals ourselves. It is pretty weird when you think about it and I could be the poster-child for the odd juxtaposition--I can tell you many, many things about the Top Chef contestants but not once did I watch an episode that informed the admittedly little I do in the kitchen.
According to Pollan, Americans today spend an average of 27 minutes a day on food preparation--less than half of what we spent in 1963. Pollan makes sure to do a tip of the hat to the idea that this might be a certain victory for feminism, but ultimately concludes that "cooking is far more important — to our happiness and to our health — than its current role in our lives..." Pollen may have a hidden pro-cooking agenda. You may get the subtle sense throughout the article that he thinks people who cook are "better" than those who do not. He may use gratuitious French phrases. But, end of the day, he does manage to cite a whole host of reasons----ranging from how cooking brings people together to how home-cooked meals are healtheir than their processed equivalents--to buttress his conclusion that we are going the "wrong" way in terms of our activity in the kitchen.
I have said time and time again that I use the kitchen as another space to online shop. The cheese happens to be closer than in the living room. But my husband loves to cook and we do spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen. And, if I am calculating properly, regardles of my lack of kitchen prowesse, the mere time I spend assembling the simple things I make for my kids puts me above the American average of time spent in the kitchen. But I cannot get over the fact that I hate to cook. That I think the advent of anything that makes cooking easier should be an automatic contender for some sort of National Prize. That I shudder at any article, philosophy, polemic-veiled-as-feature that propogates the idea that "we"--and make no mistake, the "we" here, regardless of my situation, is usually the women--need to cook more.
What do you think? What are your visceral reactions to "cooking"? I have noticed that, in my anecdotal sample, it seems to be the Indian women I know who cook more than the non-Indian ones. I also notice that it is some of these same women who actually do seem to genuinely love cooking. Do you find that to be the case and, if so, why is that so?
Do you think there is a "death of cooking" going on? Should there be?
I'm EATING this up...! Heh.
Deepa is a wife, mother, writer and she sometimes masquerades as a lawyer as well. She revels in friendship, humor, champagne, and laughing at herself--often. She never ever reads US Magazine, thinks Rushdie is a genius, wishes she could write one sentence as funny as "Arrested Development," and lives in the Bay Area with her motley crew. She can be reached at deviswithbabies@gmail.com
I love cooking so I read this with interest. Pollan makes many great points but I agree he comes across as "better" and I really don't see the reason to "make" people cook if they don't like it. For me, it is relaxing!
I like to cook as a sort of "activity." BUt I do not like the everyday routine of "what should I make for dinner." It's mind numing.
indian women cook more because our moms have taught us that we "should".
Great qustions: As a mom of a daughter i wonder if i will "expect" her to learn to cook like my mom expected it of me. Or maybe technology will change even more by then and cooking won't even be a gender-related activity, msybe you press a button!!!
it's soooo true! hubbie and i often curl up and watch food network star. with bad take=out...! hahahaha!
It's hard to disagree that we have LOST something--nightly dinners around the table, whole family, healthy food. But there is also an amount of nostalgia to that situation and who knows if it really was all peachy keen.
we're practical. we know that we want our family to eat together more often than not, but if it's at the pizza place so be it. and if it's not everyday nobody is freaking out about it. btw, my husband is the one who cooks too!
In my mind it is simple: If you love cooking, lucky you. If you don't, you should still try to do it sometimes. There's no denying it is healthier for your family. (And cheaper for what it's worth). And if you hate it? Hopefully you married someone who hates it less!
awesome article. michal pollen is the sh*t.
why does cooking get such a bad wrap? i don't get why so many people hate it. it's just like art.
um. people hate art too????!
27 minutes a day is fiiiine with me!
I agree with C.L.P. If you like it, good for you. If you don't, try, but don't beat yourself up about it. I grew up with a mom who didn't love to cook, but did mostly. More than what we ate, I remember that we every meal together as a family and that those are the times that made us close. But I never got the sense that she really loved to do it; just acccepted it as a chore, not the worst. I have pretty much the same attitude. But I am married to a Gujarati now, and I have seen a completely different ethos around cooking. They (or at least the ones I know) and especially his mother's generation, are almost obsessed with cooking. Before they ask, "how are you?" they ask "What did you eat?" It's kind of annoying, to be honest because they hold it up as a judgment standard, which kills what little joy I had in it. Unfortunately, the hubby doesn't cook either; fortunately, he has no problem with take out or eating out or my lame attempts at home cooking.
My mother enjoyed cooking . I never really took proper lessons from her but for some reason, everything I make tastes just the way she makes it. That makes me very happy.
I am not a big fan of daily cooking but do not hate it enough to order food everyday. Have a learned a few tricks to cook at home without spending a lot of time in the kitchen. At the same time, once in a while I will cook an elaborate meal and use only the freshest of ingredients - i am talking whole garlic, not paste, not even peeled. The old fashioned way feels good depending on who its for!
And yes, I do wish my husband had more interest in cooking and I hate the fact that cooking is associated and expected frm women. The expected part is what takes the fun out of it actually. I guess not cooking or hating cooking is our rebellion !
My mom did not/does not like the everyday aspect of cooking but she cooked every single day when I was growing up (and did it well!!). She did, however, enjoy making me snacks and mouthwatering desserts. But she did not believe that cooking was solely a woman's job, so she never asked me to learn. She said my husband and I should learn together!! Up until my early twenties, I couldn't boil water. But now I find I love cooking, it calms me down after a long day at work. And of course, I ask my mom for all her recipes, and my husband and I share in the cooking. My dilemma is not the cooking, if only I could cook and he would do all the cleaning, that would be manna from heaven.
I hate cooking...find it absolutely monotonous and drab...always did...figured I would hire domestic help after marriage and solve the problem!...ofcourse fate had other plans and I landed in US from India after marriage...the hubby doesnt like cooking either, we manage with take-out etc ever so often, but I am a vegetarian and a desi food fan, so have to return into the kitchen after a couple of outside meals...the only thing associated with food that I like doing(besides eating ofcourse!) is surfing food blogs and drooling over the pictures, but thats about it!
liked the article thank you for sharing. i didn't feel like he was being all that preachy and really thought it was more about the tv food stuff than about cooking.
what jump-started my cooking, no surprise, was having kids. i really felt overwhelmed when my 2 year old started asking me what was for dinner and i could come up with nothing more than "pasta and sauce"! there is something kind of empowreing about it, in retrospect.
Coincidentally yesterday's fresh air on radio interviewed Pollan on the same.
While I do not like to cook too much - some days I do wish I had learnt more cooking while my mom was around. When kids love their grandma's cooking more and you cannot recreate that - it does feel like something I wish I had done better.. but then I do not like to cook:((((
I absolutely love to cook but the issue isn't whether one likes to cook or not. cooking is one of the most basic skills that one should have. Most of us don't enjoy going to work for 8-9 hours, but we do it. Many of us did not enjoy school and homework, but we did it. It offends me when I see seemingly aware women proclaim that they cannot cook. Listen, if you cannot even feed your own ass without depending on someone else (take out, restaurant, etc.) then you are not independent.
The amount of processed food that kids eat is shocking to me, and I am convinced that diabetes, heart disease, and obesity will be the biggest health issue we will have to deal with in our next generation.
So, even if people do not like to cook, they should learn to do it, and do it well. We need to stop politicizing cooking -- it is not about feminism or emancipation. It is about being able to embrace and control the basic essential of life, food.
@Naila: At the risk of being harsh, who the hell are you? Seriously, why should we heed your words and cook? Just because you do? What if our husbands do? And what about if we are support many local farmers, restraunteurs, entrepreneurs by frequenting neighborhood establishments?
Just wondering.
Haha. I might not have put it so harshly but agree with above poster. It's funny when most people try to see another person's point of view but others decide that it is soapbox time. To me cooking, at least in terms of the everyday routine (I'm not talking chefs here, or people who, like, bake cakes from scatch!!!) is much like the other negotiations that go on in a marriage. Who is going to get up for night feedings. Who is doing the grocery shopping. Whose turn is it to change the diaper. We both like cooking for occassions and I fancy myself an excellent maker of simple things (haha). But the day to day can obviously become overwhelminga and when I walk in at the end of the day the last thing I often want to do is "whip up" a meal for the fam. That being said, we DO think it is important to eat together and eat at home so we DO do it, almost every day. It gets easier.
This is not going to be a popular response but it is the truth: Four of the most successful--and fulfilled--career women I know are unashamed to say that THEY DO NOT COOK. like, as in ever. one married soneone who does; one literally orders take out almost every night; one isnt married with kids and goes out all the time. it's interesting though and i wonder if the two are related.
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