I ask my colleagues with children if they are teaching them to cook. A surprising number are not -- they don't really know how to cook themselves. That's sad! I have always known how to cook as part of the responsibility I had as a kid, was helping with chores. Cooking fell under that category. Either my mom would prepare things ahead that we were expected to finish, or we were tasked with the entire meal (not uncommon once we hit high school age). I remember my mother (who was a horrible cook, by the way), teaching me how to boil pasta, make a white sauce, bake bread, make buttercream frosting. I never took home economics in school -- I preferred wood and metal shop. But I sure did like to eat!
Today I cut up a whole chicken. The back and gizzards are going to pup. I took the wings and some of the breast bone and put it in the pressure cooker with veggie bites and a half a box of vegetable stock I needed for a recipe this week. The rest of the bird is in a white wine brine. I'll roast that with potatoes, peppers and romanesca (a broccoli and cauliflower hybrid). Leftovers from that will make other meals.
I've been cooking like this my entire life, as I am sure you probably have too. My friends cook from scratch as well -- some to the same extent, some less. But we all cook and we all enjoy food. It disturbs me that something so sensible has to have a label to it. Hey, I'm old enough to be a grandma, but I've been cooking like this since I was a kid. Do you think people will start teaching their kids to cook, or just assume grandma is always going to do it for them?
I think people are lazy and do not bother much to teach kids to cook.
ReplyDeleteI think that other things seem much more important -- like after school activities, social engagements, etc. I would think learning to survive in adulthood would be important too. But apparently it's not!
DeleteA while back I read an article online about people who were doing a "challenge" to see if they could go an entire week without eating out. I mean, the challenge didn't even involve actual cooking from scratch - I think a box of mac 'n' cheese would count, but you had to eat at home. I couldn't believe that anyone would seriously consider this to be a challenge, but apparently they did! I think I'm living in a different world than most people.
ReplyDeleteIt's so sad! When I was unemployed, we would go months without even a fast-food meal. And if we did that, we used coupons. There are really so many ridiculous challenges for things we should be just doing as a course of living.
DeleteMy youngest daughter (the one who chose to have kids) is doing a remarkable job teaching the boys to cook. The 7 year old is fairly proficient in the kitchen and helps me out on a regular basis when he's here. He enjoys it alot. I can't imagine not learning this basic survival tool. I was the youngest in the family growing up so my older sisters learned more cooking but I figured it out once I got married and make (and prefer) things made from scratch. Our oldest daughter is one that went through the "let's see if we can go a whole month without eating out" challenge, but she does have the skills to cook but not the time.
ReplyDeleteI would say that being married makes a big difference. My sister who is single doesn't have as wide a culinary vocabulary and she eats out more. I have a reason to cook -- and I think that is a good part of it too. It's great that you took the time to teach and now your daughter is too.
Delete