So there's a great article I read a while back written by Mark Bittman, food columnist and author of cookbook, "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" amongst other books.
Chop, Fry, Boil: Eating for One, or 6 Billion
The basic premise of the article is that there is this cultural shift away from the art of cooking. People are busy, working late or pulling multiple jobs, getting home at hungry hours without time or patience to then prepare a meal. So we eat quick, we eat cheap, we eat unhealthy. And while we eat those things, we turn on the tv to watch other people cook (Top Chef, Food Network shows)...the irony.
As we move further away from the daily ritual of preparing meals, we get to the breakpoint of losing the skills of how to cook in the first place. So, if our kids grow up in a household where nobody really cooked, how are they supposed to learn those skills for themselves? Mom or dad may not even know how to boil water, let alone prepare an entire meal. Home ec is gone (although what happened to those kitchens in the older schools?). So these kids grow up knowing their favorite restaurants and fast food joints, develop preferences in prepackaged meals, and hardly spend time in the kitchen aside from interacting with the fridge and microwave.
In 1985, nearly 52% of main meals were prepared on the stovetop/oven. In 2010 this number has declined to about 34% (National Eating Trends research). Microwave use for main meals has gone from 10.5 to 22% in that much time.
It makes me sad to think of a generation that may not be able to cook because nobody ever taught them. It makes me sadder to think of this generation not getting the opportunity to have home cooked meals or provide those meals for their future children.
BUT HOPE AND OPTIMISM!! So the article also goes on to talk about the three cooking lessons people should learn in the basics of cooking that can be built upon with time. Each of these uses good whole ingredients and is free of all the stuff on the label that we cannot pronounce. AND, you don't need a whole lot of kitchen stuff to make these dishes happen.
So your three lessons:
The Chopped Salad
The Stir-Fry
The Rice and Lentils Combo
The salad requires no cooking at all, just some practice with the knife. This meal is really just chopping up a combo of veggies, maybe some fruit. It can usually be put together in 15-20 minutes, which is not much more time in comparison to getting prepared food. Check out the other blogs listed for great salad recipes and combos.
Now, once you have mastered the chop, you can throw those ingredients into the stir-fry. Consider adding tempeh or tofu because they soak in the flavors well, and add some protein. Again this is a quick process because you are ideally cooking a shorter time on higher heat and leaving the veggies cooked but crisp.
The final is your basic rice and lentils dish. Pretty much boil water, add rice, lentils and other ingredients to flavor (salt, spices, garlic, ginger). Boil until cooked, perhaps a half hour job depending on which ingredients you are using.
Once you have mastered the technical skill to do these three types of food preparation, it is time to add your own flare, your embellishments. So salads you can experiment with new vegetables and perhaps fruits. Add nuts. Add spices. Add some form of dressing and don't be afraid of mixing one up yourself. You cannot go wrong unless you start using all sorts of unhealthy ingredients.
The stir-fry concept can be a base to other sautees, stir-fry, and central access.
And the rice and lentils you can add all sorts of everything to it - spinach, potatoes, other vegetables or greens to boost the nutritional value.
So if you are struggling with the cooking thing, try to get these three skills mastered. They will take you a long long way!
Chop, Fry, Boil: Eating for One, or 6 Billion
The basic premise of the article is that there is this cultural shift away from the art of cooking. People are busy, working late or pulling multiple jobs, getting home at hungry hours without time or patience to then prepare a meal. So we eat quick, we eat cheap, we eat unhealthy. And while we eat those things, we turn on the tv to watch other people cook (Top Chef, Food Network shows)...the irony.
As we move further away from the daily ritual of preparing meals, we get to the breakpoint of losing the skills of how to cook in the first place. So, if our kids grow up in a household where nobody really cooked, how are they supposed to learn those skills for themselves? Mom or dad may not even know how to boil water, let alone prepare an entire meal. Home ec is gone (although what happened to those kitchens in the older schools?). So these kids grow up knowing their favorite restaurants and fast food joints, develop preferences in prepackaged meals, and hardly spend time in the kitchen aside from interacting with the fridge and microwave.
In 1985, nearly 52% of main meals were prepared on the stovetop/oven. In 2010 this number has declined to about 34% (National Eating Trends research). Microwave use for main meals has gone from 10.5 to 22% in that much time.
It makes me sad to think of a generation that may not be able to cook because nobody ever taught them. It makes me sadder to think of this generation not getting the opportunity to have home cooked meals or provide those meals for their future children.
BUT HOPE AND OPTIMISM!! So the article also goes on to talk about the three cooking lessons people should learn in the basics of cooking that can be built upon with time. Each of these uses good whole ingredients and is free of all the stuff on the label that we cannot pronounce. AND, you don't need a whole lot of kitchen stuff to make these dishes happen.
So your three lessons:
The Chopped Salad
The Stir-Fry
The Rice and Lentils Combo
The salad requires no cooking at all, just some practice with the knife. This meal is really just chopping up a combo of veggies, maybe some fruit. It can usually be put together in 15-20 minutes, which is not much more time in comparison to getting prepared food. Check out the other blogs listed for great salad recipes and combos.
Now, once you have mastered the chop, you can throw those ingredients into the stir-fry. Consider adding tempeh or tofu because they soak in the flavors well, and add some protein. Again this is a quick process because you are ideally cooking a shorter time on higher heat and leaving the veggies cooked but crisp.
The final is your basic rice and lentils dish. Pretty much boil water, add rice, lentils and other ingredients to flavor (salt, spices, garlic, ginger). Boil until cooked, perhaps a half hour job depending on which ingredients you are using.
Once you have mastered the technical skill to do these three types of food preparation, it is time to add your own flare, your embellishments. So salads you can experiment with new vegetables and perhaps fruits. Add nuts. Add spices. Add some form of dressing and don't be afraid of mixing one up yourself. You cannot go wrong unless you start using all sorts of unhealthy ingredients.
The stir-fry concept can be a base to other sautees, stir-fry, and central access.
And the rice and lentils you can add all sorts of everything to it - spinach, potatoes, other vegetables or greens to boost the nutritional value.
So if you are struggling with the cooking thing, try to get these three skills mastered. They will take you a long long way!
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