Overweight? Take Back Your Kitchen!

Last week The Globe And Mail ran an excellent series on weight and food.   I had been waiting for some time for someone to write about not just the relationship between what we eat and obesity, but the disconnect between what is available to eat and how to cook it.

Then along came Margaret Wente, who articulated many of the reasons for our now quite complicated love-hate relationship with food.  Read on...


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-lost-art-of-cooking/article1889479/


A rise in income is only part of the picture. The poor aren't cooking either. Thank you to Ms. Wente for stating the real problem, the ubiquitous and somewhat tiresome 'I don't have time' excuse. The question is, what are you doing instead?
At the risk of sounding self-righteous and opinionated, let me say this.  We have no television in my house. We also don't have the video games attached to it, the ads for junk food spewing out of it, or flavour-blasted snacks in front of it. Most evenings are spent preparing meals for the next day (and sometimes even the next) at the expense of a night of 'Village on a Diet' or 'The Biggest Loser' schadenfreud. My kids are watching what I do. The message that food is important and my kids own preparedness in the kitchen will stay with them long after I have served them my last pot of tomato chickpea soup.

I am a working single parent of three, on a tight budget. Cooking is not drudgery. Cooking is part of being a human being, and a parental responsibility. Very little gets in the way of providing clean, unfettered food for myself and my offspring. What could I possibly find to do that is more important?

Stating we don't have time to cook has meant relinquishing all control over our kitchens and what comes out of them to packaged, processed, microwavable, 20 minute food. Despite advertising aimed at guilt-ridden, harried working mothers, eating this way is not faster, easier, or cheaper, and quick meal fixes and fast food are not our friends.

I choose to believe that Ms. Wente is wrong in her conclusion that cooking from scratch is headed the way of the dodo. Our loss of skill in the kitchen has slipped away insidiously. We have been fooled by food items which hybridize convenience and 'cooking'. All of a sudden our cooking skills don't go beyond adding pouch 'A' to a cup of water and bringing it to a boil. This may be a problem, or not. That same pot of water can be used to steam vegetables, cook whole wheat pasta, or prepare a big bag of dried beans for future meals.

Few people would choose to feed themselves and their children badly if they knew how to do it differently, or more importantly, outright refused to hand over such an important job to someone else.

Who knows better than us how to feed ourselves and our families? If we are really serious about our health and losing weight, take a night or two off television. Tell food processing companies who's boss and take back your kitchen.