Will We Ever Get Back Into the Kitchen?
My Twist on the Next Food Network Star's Pilot Chicken Recipe - It was a hit!
Last night I found a very interesting article in The New York Times written by Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food”. I’ve mentioned Pollan on this blog before, and I’m sure he’ll be mentioned again as one of the leaders in the battle cry to move us back to cooking and eating our own food, and relying less on processed food. I recommend reading the article, but leave yourself enough time since it’s lengthy.
Pollan examines the correlation between the growth of food programming and the decline of actual cooking in America. He also pays homage to Julia Child, who is in every foodie’s mind this week with the opening of the movie “Julie on Julia” later in the week. Looking to Julia as one of the original cooking inspirations for the general populace, it’s easy to see how much cooking programs have changed over the past 40 years. Her program was more “real” than any cooking reality show you’ll look at today. Viewers waited as ingredients simmered and Julia chopped. There was no mood setting music, fancy sets, or timesaving edits. But as Pollan explained, Julia showed us that everyone can cook, and it’s not such a big deal if you make a mistake now and then.
Switch to today, and Pollan argues that the majority of prime time cooking programs are focused more on the eating and social dynamics than on the process of cooking. Most of the tactile appreciation for cooking has been removed from the programs. We watch the food being cooked, but don’t pick up our spatulas to attempt the recipes ourselves. And yet, as several recent food scholars and historians have been arguing, the urge to cook is a primal human instinct that sets us apart from the animals, and thus, we watch the programs to satisfy that urge.
I could muse in a hundred different tangents on this article, but I’m going to focus on Pollan’s closing question. He wonders if, once we’ve moved out of the kitchen for the many reasons he discusses, if there’s ever a chance that we’ll go back into it and end our reliance on prepared and processed foods. He interviews a food marketing researcher, Harry Balzer, who feels we’ll never go back. Pollan hopes otherwise.
I believe there may be hope. I watched the finale of “The Next Food Network Star” last night, which pitted a home cooking mom of four who cooks family style food vs. a dad who pitched the angle of cooking with an exotic ingredient every week. They both looked good in their pilots (I haven’t been watching the series so I don’t have perspective on their performance on the other challenges). It even sounded like the judges liked his food better. So the fact that Melissa won tells me a few things. I believe the Food Network is looking for programming that will fill their audience’s demands and the market researcher’s predictions for demand. The fact that this show will focus on the everyday, rather than the exotic, tells me they expect a consumer demand in every day cooking. I didn’t see exotic food or showmanship in Melissa’s pilot. She’s simply a pleasant, likable woman with a commonsense approach to food, serving up “from scratch” meals that we can all feed our families. So if the Food Network believes that’s the best next program for the network, maybe we are heading back to the kitchen, after all.
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6 Responses to “Will We Ever Get Back Into the Kitchen?”
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Who knew you read the NY Times. I was going to recommend that story to you but I had to finish the crossword puzzle first.
I wonder if we will twitter and tweet our way back to the kitchen or will we do it without apps and technology?
I read a little of way too many things, and a lot of very few… I doubt that twittering and tweeting will get us back in, however, there are some aps that show promise. have you seen any of the recipe search or shopping list aps. They show potential, I just haven’t selected mine yet.
I wasn’t being that specific. I was questioning whether technology allows us to communicate our ideas more efficiently thereby enabling the get back into the kitchen movement or whether it is our modern technology (and the way approach it)that leads us out of the kitchen. Silents, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and Millenials probably approach technology and cooking from different points of view.
I think, if anything, technology is a huge distraction that takes us from the kitchen. Whether it’s simply sitting on our rears watching television, or feeling we need to take another Facebook quiz, it all seems to supersede actually doing something productive for ourselves, like cooking!
Yet technology allows us to make connections and spread the word faster than ever. Do you think Michael Pollan’s message would spread as far or reach as wide an audience without technology? Think of the world wide dialog that could be taking place right now on getting back in the the kitchen. I think the younger generation will suprise us with the way they use technology and they will find a way back into the kitchen we don’t even see.
I agree that Melissa won the Next Food Network Star because of the reasons you mentioned. There is a movement in America to get us back into the kitchen, even if it is for only a short time. I think that’s why people like Rachel Ray are popular. She’s showing us that you don’t have to spend hours to make a reasonably wholesome meal from scratch as long as you plan ahead. That’s not a bad concept. It’s a far cry from what Julia Child proposes for cooks, but at least it gets some of us who are really busy back into the kitchen for a brief period of time!