After an extended break, I’m back! Yes, I’m aware that no one actually noticed or gives a rat’s arse.
Anywho. I have a whole week on my own to get creative and cook up a storm. In reality I’m likely to be working late every night but it’ll be an experiment in how the busy, singletons live 🙂
As a mini-project, I’ve been looking at how I can use my interests and vast knowledge (aka, too much time spent reading food porn and watching Food Network) to help other people learn how to prepare food and not be scared by the kitchen. In an ideal world I’ll be discovered as the next Nigel Slater and spend my days in beautiful, fake film set kitchens but tbh. it’s something I’d love to do just because I’m passionate about it. Speaking to a young colleague I was genuinely shocked to hear “I don’t cook much”. Erm, so how do you eat?? She doesn’t have a long commute that gets her home late at night, and she doesn’t have the kind of income that supports a diet of takeaway or M&S ready meals. She’s not the only one. We now have at least 3 generations of adults in the UK who can’t cook; the youngest now heading off to uni. Do we blame the microwave, or the years of excessive credit and perceived wealth, or is it just that M&S ready meals are actually that bloody good!
This is a basic, life skill that everyone should have. Not to suggest that everyone will be a cordon bleu chef, but the ability to turn leftovers into something edible and appealing is critical in this time of money worries. Plus, given some ‘concerns’ around food origin in the UK lately, we need to be more aware of what we’re putting into our bodies and (cost wise) when paying more or going organic actually makes a difference. Found a handy list of ‘clean’ foods which shows which fruit and veg are affected most by pesticides etc. and which ones are hardly impacted at all, so paying a premium for them really isn’t making your eats any safer. In short, pick your fights 🙂
http://www.greenster.com/magazine/produce-dirty-dozen-and-clean-fifteen-updated/
There must be other life skills that are waning. Sewing? Ironing? Does anyone polish their shoes anymore?! These things don’t keep me awake at night, but they do make me ponder…..