Fight Back Fridays! Where’s Your Passion For Cooking?

I am participating in Fight Back Fridays! If you want to know what they are all about, then check out the main site here.

What Are You Ranting About Today Jason?

Where is the Love, or Passion with our food? We have lost that connection. Traded it to the devil for “convenience”.

I Get It.

Someone once told me, (before I had my son,) that coming home after a hard day’s work, figuring out what to make the screaming kids, then cooking it fast made it impossible to cook things that were good for your family. You need fast, right now!

I thought the person was nuts. There I was, a chef – one who believed in the concepts of REAL food.

Then my son arrived, and I set out to work a 90 hour-a-week job. Since I was the one preparing the food, trust me, when I came home, the LAST thing on my mind was, “what’s for dinner?”

Companies Bank On Your Apathy.

The fact is that more and more people are working insane hours. We are not taught to cook anymore. We also just can’t give the food the attention it deserves.

I’m not talking about the act of cooking alone. I am also speaking of the planning aspect. Why is it so hard to put something on the table at the end of the day? You are missing a plan.

Every time you reach for that pre-made item, think on how much money actually went into the conception, promotion, packaging, and manufacture of that item. It was designed to do your thinking for you. How much easier at the end of the day is it to just yank something out of the freezer, dump it into a skillet, reheat, and serve?

You Pay For That Convenience.

You pay in dollars. No brainer. “Convenience” foods cost up to 3x as much per serving as if you made it yourself. Sure, a box of cereal may cost next to nothing – but what you getting from it also costs you too much. When you compare that with how much 2 eggs cost for breakfast and the nutritional profile, guess who wins?

You pay in time. Sure, the item saves you time, but since it costs you more, you need to work more in order to afford it. Plus, the medical cost down the road will also up the time. How? Waiting for doctors!

You pay in heath. Do you know what is in those products? My favorite recent discovery is how much wood (okay, powdered cellulose) is in your convenience products. Don’t take my word for it – check out the list here.

You pay with your voice. You have the power to dictate what goes in your mouth. If you let someone else make the decision, then you are at their mercy. Don’t want to eat wood? Then don’t eat the imitation pancake syrup – that simple.

It’s Harder To Be Passionate About Grey, Disgusting Food

Seriously, open up that little burger cardboard box, look at a sad, fluffy bun, with the perfect squirt of ketchup, mustard, and the chopped onions. Melted plastic-like cheese, and then the pièce de résistance – the WHOLE reason you bought the burger – grey/brown disks of “meat” and/or cellulose fillers leaking clear grease onto the bottom of the cardboard.

Or perhaps we could look at a “convenience” product straight from the freezer – like a plastic bag filled with gummy pre-cooked pasta, frozen vegetables (that are most likely freezer-burnt!), and little disks of “sauce” that you throw into a skillet, heat up, and choke back though the freezer taste that permeates through your food.

Do you see anyone out there really advocating eating out at the drive thru, or the freezer section? (Besides paid actors in commercials?) Do you see whole shows dedicated to changing our thoughts on the drive-thru, and on how good it can be for you? Hell no!

It Doesn’t Take Much, Just A Connection To Your Food.

I discovered an interesting fact on my vacation; while it cost a bit more to go to a Mom-and-Pop establishment to eat out, it was far more exciting to eat there than the Golden Arches. Sure, the clown gives you a sack that is the same the world around – but it lacks real taste from Moscow to Albuquerque.

One visit to a burger joint that writes on their menu that they are not like the Golden Arches – and that their burger takes time to cook will prove to you what you are missing. Perhaps a bit of time to chat with the waitress, or (god forbid!) your kids.

When the plate comes out, it will be gorgeous. It will smell like it’s supposed to, without any additional additives.

Take this beauty here: It cost a bit of money, but it was well worth it!

If You Aren’t Passionate, GET PASSIONATE!

I admit, I am a food geek. I am always thinking, “What are you stuffing down your gullet?”

I developed health problems due to genetics, and an unhealthy disconnect to what I was eating, (read: gorging) on. A dietician friend/boss once commented, “I can’t believe you are a chef, and you eat and feed your family that crap.”

It wasn’t until my diagnosis that I woke up. Turns out what I was eating had an impact on my health!

Start reading your labels, if you must buy convenience.

Read a cookbook. Have fun in the kitchen. A lot of people think it’s a chore, but make it fun. It’s like exercise. You won’t commit to it, unless it is something you want to do all the time. You need to do it, so it might as well be fun!

What Can I Do To Make You More Passionate About Food?

So what do YOU think? Tell me in the comments!

Tagged as: Back, Cooking, Fight, Fridays, Passion, Rant