My dearest reader , you may think it odd to call cooking a dying art - after all , our televisions are festooned with cooking shows of all types , and bookstores overflow with cookbooks and how to guides for every cuisine imaginable , including a few you didn ’ t know existed . Our internet cups runneth over with the opinions of foodies and images of what is dreadfully referred to as , " food porn ." However , the simple act of cooking IS dying , replaced by the promise of fast , tasty “ meals ” provided by the corporate food giants .
Those of us lucky enough to have grown up on home cooked meals will attest that while filling , most of the products provided by these companies can only be called “ food ” out of politeness rather than accuracy . This focus on fast and cheap meals to fuel our busy lives has reduced many people ’ s relationship to the kitchen to " the room with the microwave ."
I ’ ve recently finished reading author Michael Pollan ’ s book , " Cooked : A Natural History of Transformation ." It ' s not a recipe book or how-to guide , but more of an exploration of the cultural , emotional , political and even spiritual connection cooking has on all our lives .
As someone with a voracious appetite for books and food ( see what I did there ?) I of course gravitated to Pollan ' s words . He delivers fascinating insights into the ways in which the large food companies have systematically worked to undermine the process of cooking for ourselves , mostly by playing on the “ too busy ” myth . He also explores those who refuse
to give into the siren song of premade , pre-packaged and - possibly in our future , pre-chewed - processed " stuff ," products with the approximate nutritional value of packing foam and the shelf-life of uranium-238 . It ’ s an incredible journey and highlights the real loss we experience in our lives by fueling ourselves with fast-food and microwavable pablum .
Cooking and the preparation of meals is a profoundly intimate act , far more than we realize . Our modern world has managed to disconnect us ( or we ’ ve disconnected ourselves ) from the act of cooking , by making it seem like work , “ drudgery ” as the bright and optimistic - not to mention incredibly sexist - advertisements of the 1950s called it .
You ’ ll note I said cook , not grill , as in a backyard grill , a domain so replete with male-centric theatre and mythology ( with just a sprinkle of bullshit ) that it ’ s almost laughable . No , I said COOK , as in the preparation of quality foodstuffs in the kitchen from scratch , using vegetables , grains , meats and everything else in between .
While things have certainly improved - most of my male friends not only cook , but enjoy doing so and do it quite well - there is still innate feeling of hesitancy when one thinks of a man cooking . Our humour still relies on to the idea of the bachelor who can cook three things , all of which involve a microwave . When a woman meets a man and tells her friends that he can cook , there ’ s often a gasp of mild surprise .
These models go back of course to the idea of the kitchen being a “ woman ’ s domain ,” though honestly it was never put quite that positively .
Cooking and other household chores were referred to as woman ’ s work , a phrase dripping with so much patronizingly patriarchal poppycock that it makes one cringe ( as it rightly should ). A look through some food ads of the past
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