4 ms·

>It is a habit as easy to form as a bad one, and more beneficial by far. >... >Demonstrably it is more pleasant than a microwaved stew or takeout curry or a p

by jasode 12y ago

>It is a habit as easy to form as a bad one, and more beneficial by far. >... >Demonstrably it is more pleasant than a microwaved stew or takeout curry or a pizza delivered from miles away. Cheaper, too. It's not "easy" or "more pleasant" if you're stressed for time. Most of the article's paragaphs focus on techniques or process. It's as if they assume the reader is afraid of pots & pans. Or they think the complexity of combining ingredients paralyzes the reader with PTSD from high school chemistry exams. The main roadblock isn't ignorance of techniques or lack of recipes. (Those are available with a few clicks of youtube or google.) The issue is available time. We can read these cooking manifestos and all nod in agreement because the benefits make logical sense but the real issue is that the cookbooks and essays don't magically conjure up a nanny to pick up our kid from daycare so we can multitask the chopping of veggies and stir the tomato sauce. Or we're young unmarried 20-something and we're working 60+ hours a week to meet a deadline with no time slot to cook from scratch. (Sounds like those google catered meals makes a lot of sense for programmer productivity.) By my personal estimates, home cooking requires 4x to 5x more time than ordering prepared meals (fast food or Whole Foods deli takeout.) It takes a significant amount of time to home cook even if you stick to those simple "cook in 30 minutes" type of meals. (Those 30 minute estimates never include shopping, meal planning, prep, and cleanup.) One strategy to compromise between time and convenience is to cook a bulk supply of a meal (say big pot of quinoa) on Sunday and then eat it as leftovers for the rest of the week. It's a great idea to batch the prep & cleanup on Sunday and leave Monday-Saturday simply as microwave reheating days. The problem with that is many folks are turned off by eating the same thing every day. Perhaps with all this trend around "sharing economy" like Uber, a web service can bring together the folks who have time to cook with the folks who don't that all live within very close proximity to each other. A web 2.0 manifestation of comparative advantage in economics. A handful of "home chefs" in the apt or condo complex shops and makes the meals while others pay for their portion. This may not work for suburban neighborhoods because getting in a car or walking 10 blocks can be too much friction (distance, raining, etc).

a8da6b0c91d 12y ago
The problem is all this silly emphasis on cooking. You don't need to cook. There is nothing wrong with eating milk, fruit, and toast for a meal. There's nothing wrong with doing it every day.
- bluedino 12y ago
  >> There is nothing wrong with eating milk, fruit, and toast for a meal. Of course you can. But you can build bonds around preparing food, sitting down and having a large meal that you can't standing around eating an apple. Pass down traditions and recipes.
peterwwillis 12y ago
Put pasta in a pan, fill it with water, put it on the stove on high heat. Put pasta sauce in a pot, put it on the stove on low-medium heat. Take out some ground meat and throw it in a second pan, put it on the stove on high heat. Put salt and pepper in the meat pan and stir it around with a wooden stick. When the meat is cooked, put it in the pot. When the pasta water boils, drain it and put the pasta in the sauce pot. Stir. Done. You can replace ingredients in dishes like that for variety, like tofu for meat, cream of mushroom soup for tomato sauce, rice for pasta ('Minute' rice cooks in 5). But like you say, it's not about recipes, as you can find thousands of these online. Time is an excuse. You have the time. Everybody has the time. Everybody has 10 minutes they can spend to make some food to eat. I don't care how many responsibilities you have, how long you work, how little you sleep, what you do with your free time, none of that. You have 10 minutes. Cook something.
- seanflyon 12y ago
  The meal you described sounds bland and not particularly healthy. It's little more work than heating frozen food for little advantage.
- istjohn 12y ago
  That's absurd. I heard somewhere that Obama doesn't choose what he eats. He makes incredibly important decisions all day, every day. He can't be bothered to worry about what he's going to eat. Not many of us can make meaningful comparisons between our day-to-day and that of the POTUS, but I certainly envy the convenience of having my meals chosen for me. Cooking requires making a number of additional decisions. You suggest finding a recipe online. OK, well it will probably require ingredients that I don't have. Finding a satisfactory solution to the problem of choosing a recipe that maximizes tastiness and health, while minimizing grocery shopping and cooking hassle takes at least ten minutes for me. Inevitably, I need to buy four or five ingredients. Using up the leftover ingredients will further complicate future meal choices. Furthermore, cooking requires planning ahead of time unless you want to make a (10 minute minimum) trip to the store every day. So now I have to set aside 2-3 hours every week to make a meal plan, write a shopping list, and buy ingredients? Add an hour or more if you are not lucky enough to have a grocery store near your daily commute. And now I need cabinet and refrigerator space for all this and counter space to prepare the meal on. Cooking's easy for you. Congratulations! It's not for me. You are out of touch with what day-to-day life is like for a huge swath of folks.

by jasode 12y ago

a8da6b0c91d 12y ago

The problem is all this silly emphasis on cooking. You don't need to cook. There is nothing wrong with eating milk, fruit, and toast for a meal. There's nothing wrong with doing it every day.

bluedino 12y ago
>> There is nothing wrong with eating milk, fruit, and toast for a meal. Of course you can. But you can build bonds around preparing food, sitting down and having a large meal that you can't standing around eating an apple. Pass down traditions and recipes.

peterwwillis 12y ago

Put pasta in a pan, fill it with water, put it on the stove on high heat. Put pasta sauce in a pot, put it on the stove on low-medium heat. Take out some ground meat and throw it in a second pan, put it on the stove on high heat. Put salt and pepper in the meat pan and stir it around with a wooden stick. When the meat is cooked, put it in the pot. When the pasta water boils, drain it and put the pasta in the sauce pot. Stir. Done. You can replace ingredients in dishes like that for variety, like tofu for meat, cream of mushroom soup for tomato sauce, rice for pasta ('Minute' rice cooks in 5). But like you say, it's not about recipes, as you can find thousands of these online. Time is an excuse. You have the time. Everybody has the time. Everybody has 10 minutes they can spend to make some food to eat. I don't care how many responsibilities you have, how long you work, how little you sleep, what you do with your free time, none of that. You have 10 minutes. Cook something.

seanflyon 12y ago
The meal you described sounds bland and not particularly healthy. It's little more work than heating frozen food for little advantage.
istjohn 12y ago
That's absurd. I heard somewhere that Obama doesn't choose what he eats. He makes incredibly important decisions all day, every day. He can't be bothered to worry about what he's going to eat. Not many of us can make meaningful comparisons between our day-to-day and that of the POTUS, but I certainly envy the convenience of having my meals chosen for me. Cooking requires making a number of additional decisions. You suggest finding a recipe online. OK, well it will probably require ingredients that I don't have. Finding a satisfactory solution to the problem of choosing a recipe that maximizes tastiness and health, while minimizing grocery shopping and cooking hassle takes at least ten minutes for me. Inevitably, I need to buy four or five ingredients. Using up the leftover ingredients will further complicate future meal choices. Furthermore, cooking requires planning ahead of time unless you want to make a (10 minute minimum) trip to the store every day. So now I have to set aside 2-3 hours every week to make a meal plan, write a shopping list, and buy ingredients? Add an hour or more if you are not lucky enough to have a grocery store near your daily commute. And now I need cabinet and refrigerator space for all this and counter space to prepare the meal on. Cooking's easy for you. Congratulations! It's not for me. You are out of touch with what day-to-day life is like for a huge swath of folks.