In the latest New York Times magazine, Michael Pollan has a really fascinating piece, “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch“, in which he details how we’re moving away from actually cooking our selves in favor of watching others cook.
How is it that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them ourselves? For the rise of Julia Child as a figure of cultural consequence — along with Alice Waters and Mario Batali and Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse and whoever is crowned the next Food Network star — has, paradoxically, coincided with the rise of fast food, home-meal replacements and the decline and fall of everyday home cooking.
He goes on to say…
Today the average American spends a mere 27 minutes a day on food preparation (another four minutes cleaning up); that’s less than half the time that we spent cooking and cleaning up when Julia arrived on our television screens. It’s also less than half the time it takes to watch a single episode of “Top Chef” or “Chopped” or “The Next Food Network Star.” What this suggests is that a great many Americans are spending considerably more time watching images of cooking on television than they are cooking themselves — an increasingly archaic activity they will tell you they no longer have the time for.
What do you think? Have you gotten sucked in by food TV? How often do you actually get in the kitchen and cook? If you’re like me, not enough.
#1 by marchdoe on August 3rd, 2009
I will leave my thoughts of Rachael Ray to myself, but I am glad you enjoyed that article. I find the biggest issue now, people saying they “don't know how to cook”. Cooking is nothing more than following directions. If you can do that, you can handle 80% of the recipes out there. Although perhaps the same people who can't cook are the ones that don't read the manual either.
#2 by happygomarni on August 4th, 2009
First of all, I am so excited to see you now have a food blog, Justin! Congratulations!
Second of all, I am one of those people who will always make time to bake. And that's where I get stuck on Pollan's idea that people watch cooking on tv instead of actually cooking in the kitchen. I just don't think there's a correlation. I think they both offer value to a person but are completely different types of value. What I get from baking I could NEVER get from watching tv, and vice versa. So one does not replace the other. Vicarious consumption on tv does nothing to bring the aroma of baked goods wafting through the air, or exploit my interest in tactile activities. Plus, sometimes the only way I can relax myself is by going to the kitchen and baking something. Sitting and vegging on the couch just doesn't cut it. And to say that if you're busy spending time watching tv, you naturally have less time in the kitchen, ok, true, but you also naturally have less time to do ANYTHING else for those 30 minutes you're sitting there watching tv. TV cooking is taking away time from all sorts of activities you could be doing. So I guess I'm going to have to politely disagree with Pollan that tv cooking is replacing real cooking. They're just not connected, in my mind! And that was probably the least eloquent I've been in ages. Sorry…I'm tired. Just finished cooking in MY kitchen!
#3 by John F Croston III on August 5th, 2009
With cooking for one I tend not to cook more than a few times a week, since I end up having leftovers which I eat over the next day or so. I do spend a good amount of my time watching cooking and travel shows, which has made more adventurous in trying new things.
If I had not watched Food Networks “Throw Down with Bobby Flay” I would have never heard about or gone to “Granville Moore's” for mussels and frites. Their blue cheese mussels are to died for as long as your not allergic to either blue cheese or mussels or you might really die.
Watching travel and food shows keeps me from watching a lot of the other crap on TV. My favorite food and travel show is “No Reservations” with Anthony Bourdain, because it has food, travel, and of course sarcasm.
We need to get to Granville Moore's and some wine shopping soon.
#4 by John F Croston III on August 6th, 2009
With cooking for one I tend not to cook more than a few times a week, since I end up having leftovers which I eat over the next day or so. I do spend a good amount of my time watching cooking and travel shows, which has made more adventurous in trying new things.
If I had not watched Food Networks “Throw Down with Bobby Flay” I would have never heard about or gone to “Granville Moore's” for mussels and frites. Their blue cheese mussels are to died for as long as your not allergic to either blue cheese or mussels or you might really die.
Watching travel and food shows keeps me from watching a lot of the other crap on TV. My favorite food and travel show is “No Reservations” with Anthony Bourdain, because it has food, travel, and of course sarcasm.
We need to get to Granville Moore's and some wine shopping soon.