He asked other food bloggers to write about why they cook. It got me thinking so I thought I’d participate in the conversation.
I cook because I love to eat. There’s something so satisfying about making food and then getting to personally enjoy the fruit of your labor.
I cook because there’s a satisfaction that I get from making something with my hands.
I cook because it’s an escape for me. When I cook, my kitchen because my own little world that I escape into. After a busy work at week, I like nothing better than spending a day cooking.
I cook because understanding a culture’s cuisine helps me to connect so much and better understand that culture.
I cook because it’s an expression of myself. I think, whenever you make something with your hands and then give it to someone else, you’re showing the world a lot about who you are.
I cook because I love serving my friends and family.
Why do you cook? Spell it out for us. Drop it in the comments or write a post in your own blog.
Jamie Oliver has always been someone within the food space that I’ve tracked with. His attitudes around simple delicious dishes that use local fresh ingredients is definitely something that I agree with. Along with being an amazingly accomplished chef and author, he’s done great work advocating for healthy lunches in the schools throughout England.
Well this year the TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, and Design), a conference where some of the smartest people in the world come together to talk about world’s issues, honored Jamie with the TED Prize for 2010 for his work in fighting childhood obesity by teaching children about food.
He gave a really moving talk (embedded above). He illustrates through numbers and some very moving stories how diet related illness kill more people every year then anything else. He also comes with a pretty awesome action plan of, which I agree with, of how to combat it…
Every super markets needs to have a food ambassador that’ll help their patrons be smart about food and how they prepare it.
Big food brands need to put food education at the heart of their business.
Fast food companies need to start thinking differently and working to get us off of our addiction to fatty, sugary, and overly processed foods.
Better regulations around how food is labeled.
Kids in schools need to be cooked local healthy food.
Every child needs to be taught 10 recipes that they can use for the rest of their life.
Their needs to be greater funding for getting healthy food into schools.
As I’ve talked about before on this blog, from a very young age, I was blessed with an amazing mother who helped and encouraged me to learn my way around a kitchen. Also, Both of my parents have been encouragements and examples for eating healthy but I know that others aren’t so lucky.
I a big believer in what Jamie’s advocating. We need to do something. While Washington DC is flailing trying to figure out how to fix health care, we can do so much to actually fix our health.
This is Jamie’s mission statement…
“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”
Seriously, watch Jamie’s talk and let’s do something about what’s happening.
Through the television show Top Chef, I’ve become familiar with molecular gastronomist and chef Wylie Dufresne. For those of you who aren’t familiar, molecular gastronomy is all about utilizing chemistry and more generally science in the process of cooking.
I’ve heard stories and seen examples of some pretty crazy concoctions that Wylie has come up with that create some pretty interesting flavors.
Chef Michael Ruhlman has got a really great post on his blog about how there’s an incorrect perception that we’re all too stupid to cook. Through the media, we’re told that if you’re going to cook something it should be from a bag or in a box because cooking something from scratch is just too hard and should be left to master chefs and the dudes on TV.
His thought is that if we were all shown some of the fundamentals then we’d all see how easy cooking really is. At the end of his post, he shares a roasted chicken recipe with like 3 steps. (Will try it this weekend.)
I’m not an idiot. I know people are busy. I don’t always feel like making dinner. And I know a lot of people who simply don’t like to cook. If I had to knit my own clothes I’d be really bummed. But the notion that cooking is hard and that it takes a long time and we’re just too stupid to cook is wrong. And I want people to recognize the truth from the bill of goods they’re being sold.
If you’re like me, you watched with eagerly to see which of the Voltaggio brothers was going to win this last season of Top Chef. It was a real nail biter and great television.
Now that the Top Chef season is over, you’d assume that the Michael and Bryan Voltaggio would be working on a series for the Food Channel or working on a series of cookbooks. Yes, they’ve been making the TV media tour, with stops at Conan, but in terms of long-term plans they’re working on ways to take their message directly to the people.
If you live in Washington, DC you may be familiar with the restaurant Bourbon Steak in the Four Seasons in Georgetown. The chef is Michael Mina, whose star seems to be rising. I hadn’t heard of him until Bourbon Steak (of course, I’m not a professional restaurant reviewer…).
I recently had the opportunity to sample his resturant Stonehill Tavern in Dana Point, CA (south Orange County). It’s inside the St. Regis resort there, which is stunning in itself.
Stonehill feels a lot like Bourbon. It was probably designed by the same person. It’s modern, hip American with lots of dark wood and old-fashioned class. I went with a date. We had two glasses of champagne, for which there was really poor selection and frankly some outrageous pricing.
That out of the way, we had an amazing meal. Appetizers, dishes, and desert (pumpkin donuts!) were awesome. I had the sommelier bring me a glass of whatever red would go best with my pork chop, and it was perfect.
Michael Mina’s not cheap. But I think you get your money’s worth. And in this case, with a view of the ocean. If you’re in SoCal and want an elegant, expensive meal, try Stonehill Tavern.
In the book, he talks about how a lot of the great recipes that we have for things like bread, sauces, batters, custards, and others are all based off of some pretty simple ratios. For example, for bread dough, you use 5 parts flour to 3 parts water. For Mayo, you use 20 parts oil to 1 part liquid to 1 part egg yolk.
When you watch these food shows on TV, I’ve always wondered how chefs remember all these recipes. Well, then I realize that it’s not about memorizing recipes it’s about memorizing ratios. If you can memorize 3 parts meat to 1 part fat then you can make your own sausages.
I’m anxious to dive into more of the book and even try them out over the long holiday break. I picked up the book for my Amazon Kindle. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
One of the cool parts (Yes, I am a nerd) is that you can get all the ratios in an iPhone app for just a couple of bucks. It seems like it’s totally worth it.
Just found this great video from Anthony Bourdain on cooking the Thanksgiving meal. He talks about why you should cook legs of the turkey differently then the breast. He also shows how to make homemade stuffing and gravy.