Cooking for Joy

Way back in the 50s and 60s, Julia Childs introduced the modern woman to the joy of cooking using French inspired technique as her basis. At that time, the concept of accessible gourmet cooking in the home was likely seen as a far fetched concept. After all, we were a nation of meat and potatoes. Flavor to the average American was imparted by butter and salt. How appropriate then that French cooking would be the new basis for a new trend of cooking that many consider to be the new American cuisine.

Over the decades, we have come to expect more flavor, variety and convenience from our food. In Julia's day, many home cooks were inspired by the RadarRange (later known as a Microwave), refrigeration and a dizzying canvas of new options in fast food - be it take out or grocery store sourced. This particular era of cooking and ingredient sourcing was in direct conflict with the ideals of gourmet. Quick and easy were taken too far by the food producers. It infringed on the whole foods concept that values minimal processing over convenience.

As a result, much of the personal innovation in home cooking effectively stopped. Cookbooks were looked at as prescriptive and too often rather than guidelines for the basics. Creativity was not encouraged in the kitchen unless one had a proven track record for creating the amazing. An entire generation of home cooks knew nothing more than the strict recipes found in the pages of their Betty Crocker cook books.

Today, we are seeing a pronounced re-emergence of true, semi-gourmet home cooking as a primary meal source. No longer is the concept of a creative home cooked meal exclusive to the foodies and professional chefs of the world. The average Joe with cable TV can all of a sudden participate in this lost art much more readily than before.

What TV has done for cooking is phenomenal. Shows, books and events have spurred from the concepts that Mrs. Childs spearheaded 40 years ago. Today, we find that concepts and philosophies are being distilled and experimented with in ways we couldn't have accomplished without the medium.

Why is all of this so important? As the economy continues to sour, families are searching for ways to cut back and live healthier lives. Purchasing processed foods is loosing popularity, and rightfully so. Eating the mass quantities of processed foods that we do now is unnecessary, fiscally irresponsible and completely unsustainable. Furthermore, how can we continue to consume foods that clearly have spurred entire generations of obese, diabetic people? It's imperative that we get back to eating foods as nature intended it. We must stop consuming fast foods, anything made by Kraft, and those foods that have been ground up, pureed and squirted into big plastic tubs.

We must now re-learn the not-so-difficult art of cooking. I encourage everyone who has some skill at cooking to show others. It's time for dinner parties where everyone learns some new tricks and techniques. Use lots of fresh ingredients that haven't been through a machine. Use the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. Think of it as spreading the joy. Food is nearly a religious experience after all.

Gregsta'