We have become a country of fast food restaurants. Our culture has become a "melting pot" of quick meals and in a hurry eating. Cultural foods and recipes are taken out of their recipe boxes only on special occasions and holidays.
Most young people today do not know the difference between "scratch" cooking and convience foods. Teens often are given the responsibility of feeding the family. They don't know what nutritious foods are, or how to prepare foods from recipes.
Are package directions the recipes of the future?
Can cooking shows replace grandma's food cooked with love in the kitchen?
We must save the soul of our food cooked at home. Food cooked by traditional family recipes, and made with love for family and friends can never be replaced. Soul food must be taught and practiced so it is not lost like canning, and preserving food at home has been lost.
I love your definition of "soul food"! It's brought back memories of meals from the past or how my one grandma always made cookies when we came - and where she kept them. Nothing fancy, but I feel like I am in her kitchen right now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we need to return to a time when knowing how to cook - and cook "from scratch" - was an art and a skill. It should be required of all, not just women.
ReplyDeleteI grew up at the cusp of the convenience food age when I had to have dinner on the table at age 9. I'll admit my first dishes were Shake 'N Bake and Hamburger Helper but Mom made sure that these were a gateway to building solid cooking skills. Nowadays I can even do what my great-grandmother did: make biscuits from scratch with no recipe and no measurements - just "handfuls" and "pinches" as she called it!
Diana,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. I am glad that you remember the smells and tastes from your past.
Thanks!
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteThank you. Cooking is an art and a skill that we can't afford to loose. Food is much more than just fuel, it feeds our soul with memories.
Thanks!
I fully agree and have written on this very subject in the past. This isn't the case in our house, where I cook nearly every single dinner from scratch and we have family dinner time almost every evening (except the occasional night that daughter cheerleads for a bb game). Daughter is nearly 14 and we still do this, and many times her friends join us as well. The family dinner hour is so very important. Thanks for your excellent post. :)
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