Chef Appeal
and their requirement to do, or their acquaintance with the real conditions
surrounding, the chefs work: food preparation. Those entering culinary school
to change professions will become better acquainted than most, but were not
typically drawn there in the first place by familiarity with cooks’ routine
realities, nor do many of them intend to follow the traditional route of cooks
after graduation. In general, the more moneyed, educated, and urban one is, and
the more one has lived since the 1970s, the more likely it is that one is
economically and technologically liberated from the necessity of actually
cooking—certainly with any hard manual labor involved—and the greater the
variety and quality of convenience foods one has to choose from. Sushi to go,
anyone?
In fact, our demographic represents the privileged tip of a conveniencefood iceberg. Historically speaking, most Americans have never had it so easy.
Takeout food, fast food, ready-to-eat meals from delis and supemiarkets, the
advent of “speed scratch” products such as all-in-one-package stir-fry kits, a
countless array of frozen meals, and microwave ovens have all greatly relieved
the home cook. The independent NPD Group, which compiles an annual Eating
Patterns in America report, noted that, for the year ending Febmary 2002, half
of all meals were prepared in thirty minutes or less."^ Their speed was surely
enabled by the countertop microwave’s revolution in time compression. Sold
since the early 1970s, the microwave had become a staple in the majority of
American homes by the end of the 1980s.
Our public’s detachment from kitchen labor also parallels their
disconnection from the natural origins of their foods, and is coeval with the
denaturing of many foods’ origins by technological and market-related
processes. Owing to product transport, consumer travel, preservation processes,
and feats of bioengineering, the contemporary consumer is more liberated than
ever from the boundaries of season and region. The concentration of food
variety in metropolitan marketplaces makes those who live near them more
likely to become familiar with a wider range of ingredients. However, with the
advent of food television and food businesses on the Internet, it is increasingly
the case that anyone anywhere with credit-card power can learn of and then
purchase anything anytime.
Food preparation hasn’t only gotten easier and less bound by season or
place. It has increasingly become a matter of choice. With the 1980s, as greater
numbers of Americans could afford it, they began to dine out more often. And
out they kept eating. A survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
in 1998 revealed that Americans were taking their meals out more often still, at
an average of 4 meals each week.^ The NPD Group’s study showed that the total
number of annual meals prepared at home decreased from 702 in 1991 to 651 in
2002, while meals purchased outside of home increased from 184 to 209. Of
course, the wealthier and more urban one is, the more options one has in dining
out and the more frequently one can.