Lets Keep Home Cooking Alive!

We might be in the midst of a 'food revolution' however studies show a dramatic decline in cooking and food preparation within the home

There's nothing like a home-cooked meal. Experts say that regular eating out can relate to high cholesterol, high fat along with too much sugar and salt. We all know that healthy home-cooked meals are better for us in so many ways. Not only are they helpful to our waistlines by reducing caloric consumption, but they can also save us money and also time.

Home cooking can be a way to control what you eat by only cooking the foods which you enjoy.  By cutting out what you don't like and adding in the ingredients which you do enjoy can bring so much joy and happiness into one's life at mealtimes. Studies have shown that communal meals along with being 'meal proud' make us feel happier and make us feel satisfied and appreciated. Home cooking should be a valuable nurturing gesture that brings people together however we live in a fast-paced world where we are tempted so often by quick and easy, fast meals. From my own experience I feel there is a gradual decline in the country’s cooking skills from one generation to the next Could it be that both parents are working professionals and there's no one home to cook or maybe don't have the time to prepare meals? In any case , we are constantly bombarded by cooking programs and also the home delivery quick meal that you pop in the microwave for 5 minutes so its no wonder that the art of home food preparation is on the decline

I remember my daughter explaining to me one day that not all of her friends know how to cook or even how to prepare the most basic of meals. Cooking for me is a form of visual storytelling It has a beginning a middle and a beautiful finale ..hopefully with its own standing ovation..one can only hope, right?

Learning to cook seems to be a lost tradition that’s usually passed down through each life span. Food should be a source of cultural identity that involves stories, memories, and experience Learning about flavours and food combining is an important life skill to have, and once mastered it can be shared again through each generation. Preparing food gives us a sense of responsibility and achievement By cooking your own meals it makes one self-sufficient, it can save you money, and is a great creative outlet to create lifelong memories.  

Michael Pollan,  food activist and author of  ‘Cooked’ which was a New York Times bestseller, states that cooking is one of the simplest most important steps people take to improve their family's health and well-being’.

“To cook for the pleasure of it,” he writes, “to devote a portion of our leisure to it, is to declare our independence from the corporations seeking to organize our every waking moment into yet another occasion for consumption.”

Pollans ‘Cooked’ tales takes the reader back to basics and first principles: cooking with fire, with water, with air and with earth Being able to cook with fire was the evolution of the Homosapiens: cooking indeed made us human

“Cooking is all about connection,” writes Pollan, and by dividing his is book into sections -Fire, Water, Air and Earth, Pollan discusses the usual enemies of home cooking ‘longer workdays and overscheduled children” and of course the dreaded convenience meals. 

Let us all take some inspiration from Pollan We can learn a great deal from the art of cooking. The way flavours are combined, the chemical changes various foods go through once they are prepared, the aromas, the textures, and the colours. When one ventures into the kitchen its a perfect opportunity to question where foods come from and what type of climate do they need to grow. We measure, we calculate portions and by preparing food we stimulate the brain and all the senses. 

While cooking up a storm in the kitchen may delight and excite many people there is some folk that find anything that involves any type of kitchen activity a downright chore. Everyone has to start somewhere and I believe the way to be a great cook and a confident one at that ,is through trial and error. Once you've mastered the art of cooking the reward is not only in the eating but also in the visual display and the satisfaction and pleasure in the accomplishment. 

Cooking and the preparation of food can be like your own performance art that evokes all the senses. There's nothing better than the smell of fresh-cut herbs, the visual beauty of combining various colours of foods, the sound of onions sizzling on a hot skillet, and the smell of oven-roasted garlic finishing of course with the eating which is the bonus you receive at the end where the flavours hit the tastebuds and your enthusiastic diners ask for more!

For those who cringe at the thought of venturing anywhere near a kitchen my advice would be to make it fun! Make sure you have beautiful utensils, a good set of knives to slice and dice, lovely cutting boards, and beautiful bowls for preparation and display Turn up the music and get those creative juices flowing. Maybe you'd like to invite some friends over as taste testers, take lots of photos, share a cocktail or a few glasses of wine, document your progress, you could even create an Instagram page ‘My first journey into my kitchen' 

At our place we like to have themed dinners One night it might be Mexican where we have salsa, tacos, jalapeno dips, and mango salads Another night it might be Italian, where chili and garlic spaghetti is on the menu. Whatever your cuisine preferences might be, dare to be bold and experiment as much as you can.

Let us preserve our food culture Let us all perceive domestic cooking as an essential part of our lives. Let us take pleasure in the art of creating a meal and above all let us share our recipes and enjoy our home-cooked food with others even if it's only one dish at a time!