Watching Return to Jamie’s School Dinners last night and reading in the news about the mothers who were taking orders for chips to get around their school’s healthy eating policy, I despair that the whole healthy eating thing is really fighting a losing battle.
We’ve got it all wrong in this country. Totally wrong. It’s been wrong for a long time.
We’re a nation of food programme lovers instead of food lovers. Cooking is seen to be a leisure activity you do on a Saturday, after spending most of the week hunting down the ingredients and using every single utensil and pan you own. If cookery isn’t seen as your “thing” then you’re off the hook. I blame Jamie Oliver, Anthony Worral Thompson and all the other celebrity chefs as much as anyone for promoting an atmosphere where you buy a fancy cookery book then leave it untouched on your bookshelf while you buy a ready meal from M&S.
Food shouldn’t be about spending as much money as possible on a single ingredient and it being dinner party perfect. It should be every day, making the most out of everything, learning how to freeze in bulk, how to use leftovers… eking out the veg in the back of the fridge that is on the verge of getting a bit mushy, but is still alright with a bit of stewing and it still tastes great. That’s the real world. That’s what it would take for people to ditch the jars and have confidence in themselves that actually yes, they can cook.
What we need is more cookery books, more cookery programmes and proper Home Economics lessons reinstated in schools aimed at “normal” fresh and unadulterated food. Not things that take hours, cost a fortune, take ages to shop for because no bugger stocks half the stuff. I mean, even those “30 minute supper” cookery books you buy still actually take an hour and a half once you’ve chopped every damn bit of veg to stick in the “quick” stir fry.
No wonder people not confident in the kitchen and/or on an extremely tight budget end up writing the whole lot off as poncy rubbish and irrelevant to them.
9 responses so far ↓
1 cassie-b // 19th Sep 2006 at 1:30 pm
I’m in total agreement with you. I love to cook, and do lots on the weekends so that we can have good home-cooked meals during the week when I’m working.
Thanks for putting it in writing.
Cas
2 Alley Katt // 19th Sep 2006 at 6:27 pm
My wife infuriates me sometimes. She watches UK Food and +1. She watches Jamies Dinners (we missed the return, I’m going to see if it is on ITV 2, 3 or 4). Then she decides she is going to have a go. She has 6 or 7 cookery books, and every one has been used. Even the kids are getting in on the act now. Our son is out of this world with the cooking, and our daughter gives it a go too. It is at the stage now, where I rarely get a look in at the cooker.
One thing to look out for in all things is Hydrogonated fats and vegetable oils. (He says just about to go off and mix up an Angel Delight)
3 Voltan // 20th Sep 2006 at 12:57 pm
Voltan rarely cooks. Voltan has minions for such things. However, Voltan has found that under the right circumstances cookery can be used as an effective tool with which to intimidate Voltan’s captured enemies. This is the kind of cooking Voltan likes: evil cooking.
4 BabiesEverywhere // 20th Sep 2006 at 4:39 pm
Feeling smug, as I currently have the slow cooker full of braising steak with swede. I also have baby potatoes and veg in the steamer ready to go for tea.
Do I get loads of brownie points ? Plus I bought the meat from the local butcher and the veg from the local green grocer.
5 Ellen // 20th Sep 2006 at 4:52 pm
Have to sheepishly admit that my favorite cook books are the newer Jamie Os. Of course my method of cooking is to find a recipe I like and point it out to my husband – who loves to do the deed (I wash dishes!) But even so, when I did try some on my own I was quite happy – I hate measuring things exactly and this works well with his directions…
6 Miss L // 20th Sep 2006 at 5:24 pm
I have started to enjoy cooking since finishing work, but my two children are those rare animals who love cooking after a day’s work. I think we are all different, but it is important that we don’t beat ourselves up about cooking every night – take aways are good sometimes!!
7 paula // 20th Sep 2006 at 9:50 pm
I have grown to love cooking since having my boys and those first steps into puree! I wanted them to be healthier and have a better view of food than I did (I won’t tell you what I was fed as a child but it has led to problems.) I understand what you mean about the amount of cooking programmes and cookery books not equating to people actually getting into the kitchen, too much gastroporn and not enough hands in the flour!
I have quite a few books, mostly ones with family recipes, I borrow books from the library and copy out recipes I like and cut out recipes from magazines. I can be totally smug in saying that my sons hate junk food and prefer “proper” food without me having to nag. Which was a relief.
8 Alley Katt // 20th Sep 2006 at 11:16 pm
If you go to http://www.uktvfood.co.uk/ there are loads of recipes on there. Quite a lot of these are easy to follow as well as being for the common person. In other words, they don’t include using ingredients that you can only het from a shop out of town.
One recipe that I use for biscuits for my kids, is a shortbread:
150g of plain flour
3 lvl tbspn of rice flour (Tesco’s I know sell this)
50g of caster suger
100g of butter (got to be butter for best taste)
Preheat oven to gas mark 3 / 325 / 160
Sift both flours, add rest of ingredients.
Mix to a doughy ball
Put into a floured victoria sponge tray
Use a fork to pattern round the edges, and do a slight cut to mark out the pieces
Cook for 45 mins.
Take out out and cut fully through guide lines
Wait for tray to cool then turn out.
9 Pewari // 21st Sep 2006 at 7:59 am
cassie-b: my trick is to always cook double of everything where I can so my freezer has quick stuff in for my regular mealtime planning cock-ups ;)
Alley Katt: fight for your right to the kitchen!
Voltan: any spare minions, feel free to send them my way.
BabiesEverywhere: TONS of brownie points, I’ll be over in ten minutes…
Ellen: I have some of Jamie O’s as well, so I’m guilty too ;) I never ever cook from them though as I find them unbelievably faffy and time consuming :(
Miss L: yes, I love a good takeaway, but there does seem to be a whole generation now whose basic cookery skills are minimal and who have to rely on those overpriced alternatives with very little nutritional benefit. It’s become “cool” to be nutritionally deficient.
paula: I think you’ve done a great job :) I mostly use Jeanette Orrey (Dinner Lady), selected Annabel Karmel (selected for reduced faffiness) and a selection of cutouts/family/made up recipes myself.
I think I should generally state that I’m not totally against elegant faff – it’s a great hobby. But it’s become synonymous with “cookery” and to me that seems very very wrong, almost obscene, when so many struggle to budget for the basics and are constantly being ripped off with poor quality food at ridiculous prices simply because the skills to make do with the basics have been lost.
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