I have a friend who lives in Italy, and goes to a local market in his town. When he first got there, he told me he was getting stressed out when he first arrived, because he was trying to go and find specific vegetables and cuts of meat to make these wonderful Italian dishes out of a cookbook, but he could never track down the exact ingredient he needed, even though he was in Italy itself.
Following the Grandmothers
Then, he said, he realized all he had to do was start following the grandmothers around the market as they did their shopping — he not only figured out who was selling the best produce, but he saw that the majority of Italy’s grandmas would buy certain vegetables that were in season, because those ones usually tasted the best and were the cheapest.
And their buying method generally seemed to be “get a mix of stuff, go home, and do something with it” — not completely improvised, obviously, but open-ended enough to not need a complex recipe in your pocket before hitting the market. He told us he tried to emulate that in his cooking, but found he was missing something — a fundamental ability in the kitchen, knowing what things go with what other things, how long stuff should take when you’ve gone off-recipe, and so on.
I’ve noticed a lot of friends of mine are able to whip up great meals out of a cookbook when needed, and they can follow directions pretty well, but when it comes to actually making things for themselves on a regular basis, they’re just as lost as everyone else. Why is this?
The common response is that in the last 50 years, the idea of “passing down” kitchen skill got lost, as huge changes hit our families and the way we live. That’s the most common explanation, and it makes sense — but what else is behind this change? We did some research, and a lot of the big voices in the ‘Real Food’ movement point to some other interesting factors in why a lot of us feel we can’t cook anymore:
The Rise of Food TV
There’s no doubt 24 hour food networks have given us fascinating programs on the most insane, delicous, exotic, or interesting food around, and countless new things to try. But the fact is — 1 hour of watching Top Chef is one hour you didn’t spend trying a new meal, having a special dinner, or making a wonderful lunch for work tomorrow. The same can be said about any TV show, obviously, but when watching the Food Network is paired with not eating well, it’s a strange relationship.
These shows also tend to make cooking into a spectator sport, because that’s what sells on TV. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, until you hit the point where you don’t really want to cook anything, becuase you saw how the top chefs do it on TV, and your plain old kitchen doesn’t seem so great anymore. This, of course, is BS!
The kitchen of Mark Bittman, who writes the amazing ‘Minimalist‘ column for the New York Times, is miniscule. No gas stove, very little counter space, and yet he wrote what is considered the best single-volume cookbook of the past 50 years. If he can create a bible of the kitchen, in a tiny space, without any chef’s training or ultra-fancy equipment, you can surely find a solution, too.
Unlimited Choice
The sheer size of the average supermarket, and the availability of an insane amount of fruits, vegetables, spices, fish, meat really can work against us. It’s an amazing resource we have, sure, but not only can we be overcome by buyer’s anxiety — and end up getting too much stuff in order to make radically specific dishes — but we tend to miss seasonal fundamentals. Every supermarket has a fixed amount of space to fill, no matter what the season. Unlike a farmer’s market, there always needs to be “produce” out and displayed at all times, no matter the time of year.
It also leads to a mentality that I’ve noticed — where people become fixated on the particular ingredients in a recipe, because they’re usually all available (with a bit of work). Instead of understanding what might be substituted — saving a car trip across town — each recipe becomes a kind of elaborate to-do list that must be 100% checked-off. This seems to ensure that people don’t learn how to repeat the recipe from memory, because they’ll never remember all the precise measurements called for.
The Push Towards Having a ‘Famous’ Dish of Your Own
There’s often a specific focus on one special dish — we all know the dads & uncles who slave over the BBQ, creating the perfect steak, tenderloin, or Christmas turkey, but otherwise don’t do a thing in the kitchen. Thankfully this isn’t everyone, but that kind of specialization is a pretty limited skillset when you need to creatively combine ingredients, or make a lot from a little. A “famous chili” is great, but a series of quality dinners that don’t take more than 30 minutes to prepare, spread out over a month, is pretty damn great too.
How Do We Get Better at the Basics?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that there is no simple solution to gaining better kitchen basics. It takes work, practice, and an open mind that needs to put up with mistakes and think creatively about what’s in the fridge and the pantry — and what’s in season, on sale, or good this time of year.
What about you, our readers? What area of your approcah towards cooking do you want to improve? Do you want to broaden your palate, your cooking methods, your general facility around the kitchen? Tell us!
Hi guys,
I am from Croatia, I live on a small island and we do not have take outs, prepepared meals or stuff like that. most of the food that we eat we get from our own gardens and majority of families eat homecooked meals every day. I got most of my receipes from my grandmother and from my mother and by watching them I learned everything I know. It is a very simple mediteranian diet, lighter then Italian and with some austrian and hungarian influence.
What I changed myself is that I am using grains like quinoa, brown rice, oats and no red meat. We have a lot of fresh fish and I never use white flower and white sugar. I also eat small portions very often but the cooking is a tradition in my country and it is something that we do every day. I am now a stay at home mum so every morning I go to the market and get fresh food to perpare for the day. But even when I was working we were still eating at home every day and I just needed a bit more preparation, like I would prepare a lunch in the evening and we would take it with us, and we would have brakfast and dinner at home. I think that it also has a positive influence on the family, sitting down together is not just for eating but for bonding and spending time together.
Thank you guys for great workouts, I enjoy them every day and I never looked or felt better in my life, Zuzana, you are a great inspiration!!!
Take care both of you!
L
Hi Luci,
Your family’s traditional approach to food and eating is something that Frederick and I are really striving towards. Unfortunately we don’t have our own garden yet, but this is something that we have already talked about making happen for ourselves in the future. Thank you so much for sharing this comment with everyone here – ir has really inspired me to move more to this direction.
Hi Zuzana,
It is not just me or my family, it is just the way of life here, very easy, traditional and simple. It would be hard to live otherwise because there are no frozen meals, no take out restaurants to order from or things like that. There are no fast food places or any of those, the only temptation comes from the bakery but even those are baked fresh every day. You guys should move here:) Clean sea, nature, nice people, and a few of your chezch girls that were here on holiday but fallen in love here, got married and stayed here…there are some nice appartments in my building so let me know if you are interested..:)
I think it shows that I used to sell real estate;)
take care
L
Hi Frederick,
This is possibly your best article!
Most people now days only work from recipes, can’t create something from scratch and as you say in the article have to have the exact items listed in the recipe. Making food is best when it is an exploration and art.
As a child I loved working with my Mom and sisters in the kitchen. We didn’t have a lot of money and a large family (Catholics with 7 kids). So we had a small garden and would pick pears, apples, cherries and black berries from relatives and neighbors yards and would can beans and fruit as well as make jams. I learned much of what I know about cooking then.
Much later I had a restaurant with my then girlfriend and still close friend. It was possibly the best time of my life! But, it was also the time I weighted the most! 8-)
Best wishes,
–Chris
Hi Luci,
which island are you from? I’m from Zagreb.:) Anyway, Zuzana, Luci told you how they have their own gardens and stuff like that, well in Zagreb it’s quite different since it’s the capital city of Croatia, we all have a very busy schedule and most people don’t cook at all, so fast food and white flour foods are mostly eaten.
I myself avoid that kind of food at all cost, buy fresh vegetables and fruit from the market, eat lots of rice, oats, steam the chicken meat etc. I don’t cook anything fancy or complicated, it’s just basic stuff like salads, oatmeal, lots of fruit, protein rich meat with a nice sauce, I drink a lot of tea and eat soups, so I really don’t need to be an expert in cooking since it’s all basic stuff. I think more people with busy schedules should eat simple, it’s faster and much more healthy. I rarely eat what I haven’t cooked myself, since I like to know what I’m putting into my body. This coupled with exercise has made me much more healthier that I used to be, I don’t remember the last time I caught a cold since it’s been years… To Frederick and Zuzana, congratulations on another nice article and be sure to post photos when you finally start that garden of yours:).
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This is such a wonderful article and really speaks to where I am right now in my life. In fact the last couple of articles have been right on. Growing up in a family that had McDonald’s tuesdays, Dominoes pizza wednesdays, and Fancy restaurant Friday’s, my perception of food and cooking was very skewed to say the least. And I don’t think I’m the only one. When food became so easy and readily available, we just decided to take the lazy way out and do whatever was convenient. This article speaks volumes about using our natural resources to create a meal that is delicious yet provides good ‘fuel’ for our body.
I was always a very meticulous recipe follower. Never straying from one tiny measurement and making midnight trips to the 24 hour grocery to get just one more of whatever I ran out of. About a year and a half ago when I began drastically reshaping my diet, I realized that I needed to do something about getting much more fruits and veggies in my diet. I then found a great little cookbook by Jessica Seinfield called Deceptively Delicious that really inspired me. The premises of the cookbook is to sneak different veggies and fruits into everything you consume. What a great idea! So I hopped on board and reached beyond the cookbook to my own favorite recipes. Now I have at least two different veggies on my plate at every meal whether they are fresh or sneakily hidden in the mix. Me and my sister even began putting spinach in our smoothies! You can’t even taste it (if you can get past the green color!). Sometimes my meals are not the best but I think the important thing is to learn what works and practice. I love cooking my own meals so much now because I know exactly what ingredients are used and I have control over how healthy and nutritious the meal is. You don’t always have to follow the rules of the recipes :)
Here is my rule breaking meatloaf recipe that I made this week:
Turkey Meatloaf
1 chopped onion
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 lb ground turkey breast
1/2 c Italian whole wheat bread crumbs
2 T grated low fat Parmesan cheese
1/2 t salt & 1/4 t pepper
1/2 C Fat free milk
1/4 C egg whites
3 T ketchup
Saute onions in olive oil until tender. Combine all ingredients and shape into a loaf. Place loaf in sprayed baking dish and bake 50-60 mins @350 F or until done. Divide into 6 servings.
I took this recipe and creatively (if I do say so myself!) added 1 shredded carrot, 1 finely chopped celery stick, about 1/3 c of chicken broth (to add moisture), thyme, and rosemary. I also used one small can of organic tomato paste instead of ketchup, putting half in the mix and the other half spread on top.
It was delicious! Try it and add some of your own ingredients: anything sittin on your shelf!
Thanks so much Fredrick and Zuzana! You’re inspirational!
Here in Rio de Janeiro, we have a very busy life, but there are a movement (Srry if my english is bad) called here: permacultura.
It´s a bit more than just eat what we cook, it´s more like make the place you live permanent, to maintain ourselves with our own nature place.
It was created by the ecologists: Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. And the therm came from permanent agriculture to become later permanent culture.
The way of thinking about ecologic sustain became bigger and it turned into a human sustain with nature. The enphasis is the creative aplication of the basics of nature, getting toghether animals, plants, eco buildings thecniches and people in a produtive ambient in harmony with our nature.
there are some links that you may like to read:
http://www.lesslawn.com/articles/article1069.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mollison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
Not all people here are addept of this way of life but there are already a big community in this way.
More than eating what we cook, I´m trying to eat what I plant, because here in our markets there are so many vegetables that are poisoned with pesticides and in the final it makes more bad than good to our organisms. Other thing I´m avoidding is plastic, there are an article about the hormones disruptes and here´s the link:
http://www.cleanandhealthyme.org/BodyofEvidenceReport/TheChemicals/BisphenolAHormoneDisrupter/tabid/99/Default.aspx
I´m not that kind of boring eco follow that thinks that everything that modernity brings are bad things, just trying to live in equilibrium with what modernity can bring with harmony with our true nature!!
Hope you like the links!!
^^
Hi Zuzana
Being Polish I am used to cooking since I was a kid. I have always loved it. Actually there was a time when I had a blog about cooking, but as with everything in my life, after about 100 recipes I just got bored with posting (not bored with cooking).
So I cook everyday – usually 2 main meals – one for me – without meat, and one for my husband notorious meat eater hah. I cook Polish, English, Italian, Carribean, Arabis and any other you can think of.
At the moment I am absolutely addicted to broccoli soup, vegetarian Bigos (polish cabbage dish~) tuna paste (to have on bread or crackerbread or rice cakes), stuffed jacket potatoes (cheese, chives mmm) and sweet cheese polish pancakes mmm all of them nice and healthy (well most of them haha)
ok that’s enough, you see I can’t even mention food cos I just go on and on about it
Hi there, love your website. So you used to live in Canada? I wish I had known about you/your site when you were here. Would have been especially inspiring to have possibly met you in person. I am a beginner to having a more active lifestyle and have been enjoying your site which motivates me to keep going even though I have not noticed any changes yet. I’ll be turning 40 (god help me) soon and with the help of your site, I will be looking and feeling better for the next 40 and beyond.
I have been experimenting more with my food for years and wholeheartedly agree with what you seem to be discovering as of late. People really really need to simplify their food.
You might like “The Thrive Diet” book written by Brendan Brazier (a fellow Canadian), professional ironman triathlete who eats whole foods. Interesting book and some interesting recipes that I have incorporated more of into my own life. There is virtually no cooking to denature the food and strip it of nutrients.
By the way I absolutely love the cinnamon/raisin bread, sprout, pear sandwich, but it tastes so darn good that I have to eat the 2 slices right then.
Blessings
i completely agree with this article. i cant really talk to much, because i am at college and have to deal with dining hall food but none the less, i do my best. instead of eating the nasty greasy food i kind of cook my own meals and create a healthy meal of my own every single day for every meal. for example for dinner i just took the baby spinach they had at the salad bar and heated it up so that i had some fresh spinach. then i picked lots and lots of vegetables ( not necessarily my garden, but i can think of it as one). then i place some slices of tomato on it (not like my dads tomatoes from the garden but close). then i will put 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar for flavor and last but not least a small piece of grilled chicken. i wish i could grill the chicken myself or grill fish (this is what i miss most about cooking myself) but when it comes together its delicious and healthy. its weird cause it kind of feels like cooking – like it takes time to put everything nicely together and to create my meal. other people are scarfing down unhealthy food where as i take my time to prepare my food, appreciate it and enjoy it. eating small meals throughout the day and taking the time to eat( at least 20 minutes) makes me appreciate food so much more. the other thing i realized is that since i only have 1-2 times per month where i stray from this (ONLY for a special occasion or holiday) i appreciate that food so much more ya know? like thanksgiving is coming up and it will be my one day this month to eat a little different (not much, just a little) but i will enjoy eating with my family and savoring the moments eating together. i feel like the way i prepare, eat and treat my food allows me to have a really good relationship with food. so i completely agree we need to go back to the traditional style of cooking fresh meals from the garden and market and enjoying our time eating healthy delicious meals together with people we love
:) CHRISTINA (aka BEAN)
Hi Ania,
Do you have a recipe for your Bigos?
–Chris
My family and I have been eating clean for about 2 months. It has been cheaper and as far as cooking goes, it means taking out of the fridge some fresh food, baking, broiling or pureeing it. Add some rice or beans that you’ve had soaking on the stove. Simple eating. My boys resisted at first, I asked them to just try a bite at the table, working our way up to a 1/2 cup and then finally they just eat it…no complaints. My 14 year olds comment…”I like the way we are eating, I fill full.” When it comes to food, simplify. Enjoy the flavor of food rather than the flavor of sauce covering the food. You are what you eat, you’d better eat right! Here is a favorite recipe that only costs about $1.50 per person!
Cut an Acorn squash in half…one half for each person. I drizzle a little honey. Cover with foil and bake for 45 min. at 450 degrees. When removed, it will have a nice little pool of sweetness and it looks pretty too. Place in large bowl and serve…scoop it right out of the peel. If I have rice leftovers in the fridge, I’ll fry up some eggs with onions, ham if I have it and cilantro and mix it into the rice, adding a little oyster sauce and soy sauce. Very yummy. But, just the squash alone with a fruit smoothie is very filling and good!
Did you ever heard about crudivorism?
I found some info about it and I found very interesting, to incorporate to my diet!
=)
Hi FlaviaRJ,
Isn’t Crudivorism eating only raw foods?
–Chris
CL
So so will need white cabbage, sour kraut, onions, carrot, a few wil mushrooms (i used the dry ones and just soak then in hot water for a few minutes), veg stock, bayleaf, some pepper and a bit of tomato puree (or chopped tomato)
Chop all the veg and fry them for a few minutes, then add veg stock (just to cover the veg) and simmer till cabbage is soft.Then add tomato puree (a couple of tablespoons should be enough) and simmer for a couple of minutes.
Originally bigos is made with smoked sausage, bacon, and a few cuts of pork and beef – the more fatty meat the better.
But i don’t eat meat so this is my vegetarian version
It tastes great with crusty bread
Hi ania,
Thanks, my grandmother use to make her own version of Bigos with her homemade Sauerkraut and lots of spicy sausage and fatty meats.
–Chris
It’s so true that many people can follow a recipe just fine, but to combine ingredients on their own and just know how to pair and cook a random dish is becoming a lost art. I’m perpetually forgetting things when I go to cook a recipe – so for me unless I want to run to the store 3 times for one dish I just wing it. My mom was a follow a recipe cook and my dad was a use a recipe as a reference cook – I followed them both around in the kitchen as a kid and now have a pretty good sense of how to try new things and then incorporate what I’ve learned into new experimental dishes. Curiosity and necessity are the best teachers of cooking.
While I was growing up, my parents had me help them in the kitchen (USA) and they generally tried to eat healthy, so by the time I was on my own, I knew my way around the kitchen enough to get by. Lately I’ve been trying to learn new things, the most recent being how to cook with Quinoa. I’ve settled on a curry with that and wild rice, along with vegetables and raisins and it works pretty well. Now I have to figure out what to do with all the squash and roots I’ve got from my CSA >.<
Its kind of funny, it was after i went to college i realize most people can not cook. Every minute the dorm alarm would go off because the ladies were catching the kitchen on fire( not even exaggerating). Thats when i realize that if i dont learn how to cook i will live my entire life eating junk food. Since i started the breakfast diet ive been making healthy meals every morning and it has really made a different
Hi Zuzana,
Just wona say thank you so,sooooooo much for all…,it is nice too know that there is still someon out there who is doing such a hard work for passion not money!!
I start exercises and diet in january(I was 70kg,160cm) and had to do everything slow couse of my accident.Last week i weight my self…i lost 14kg!!And this is thanx to your web as well.
Now i wona work on my muscles and stay fit(after half year recovery I can do proper gim) so that is making me regular in here:)
I love my food as well,sending you some breakfast menu(I would eat that maybe once a week or when I have 2 trainings a day,lets call that a veg/porridge omelette:
2 eggs white
1 whole egg
1 glass of porridge(you may add some milk,if you like)
some chili peppers(great,natural thermogenic!)
salt,peper(any herbs you like)
1 tomato
1/2 onion
1 fresh pepper
Mix all ingredients and put everything in to hot pan with 1 spoon of oil,cook till you think it is ready,feel free add deferent veg and herbs!Enjoy:)
P.S.Hi and thanx to all who helping make this web:))xxx
Hi Luci,
I was just reading your post and was surprised to see that you live in Croatia.
I just moved back to Croatia after growing up in Montreal, Canada.
I have to say that it is quite a different world but I am slowly adapting.
I use to be a fitness trainer back in Montreal and of course, I would watch my diet and eat healthy. I thought that coming here would be a real challenge for me.
First the bakeries at every street corner, then the family and friends gathering for meals as much as possible, no nutritional facts table on foods at the grocery store.
But at the end, for the first time I learned to eat healthy, clean foods, I learned how to cook and how to listed to my body instead of being obsessed with labels and calories.
I am thinking of getting some piece of land on Cres Island, do you by any chance live there and have some advice?
Take care :)
I find that the best trick to making a good recipe is just using your nose – literally! If it smells good together, it will probably taste good together. This is a really good trick especially for spices. Also, if a spice smells strong, use very little (though some spices, like cinnamon, get even stronger when you cook them).
I also have three favorites which are really easy to improvise – soups, salads and stir-fry.
My favorite is veggie soup. Find some veggies you know you like, throw them in a pot of water, with a bit of oil, and let it boil. The only tricky thing with this is knowing how long some veggies take too cook. In general, the denser it is, the longer it will take to cook (potatoes for example). Canned foods (canned peas for example) cook fast. So throw in the harder veggies first. I also like to put in some tomato juice near the end. For spices, just some pepper and parsley. It’s really easy, and pretty fast too.
I find I always gravitate towards my one, favorite salad. I love a simple tomato, cucumber and feta salad (topped with a touch of olive oil). It’s perfect in the summer, when they’re in season.
Stir fry took me a while to get a hang of. Throw in some veggies (mm, broccoli!), chicken (or tofu), and some spices (1 teaspoon savory, a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of ginger – but you should try your own too). When it’s done, put it on rice, and it’s filling too.
I’m trying to teach my husband to cook, he doesn’t want to. :) Do you think this is a good idea?
The biggest roadblock I’m having with cooking is knowing how to get started! I know if I take baby steps, I can probably get to where I’m comfortable with food and making my own. But I’m not sure where to start. What are basic foods that can be easily worked with that I can pick up at the store? What are some simple recipes with common ingredients that can be mixed and matched? And what’s cheap?
There’s a book that helps somewhat with this issue. It’s called “Culinary Artistry” and the authors are Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. The authors researched, throughout many different world cuisines, what foods and flavors commonly go with other foods and flavors. In this book these relationships are in a gigantic alphabetical list that goes on for ~100 pages. So you can look up “asparagus” and there’s a list there of other things that go with asparagus (morel mushrooms, for example).
Of course then you need to learn the techniques of cooking and seasoning and tasting from books or culinary schools. It helps to go to restaurants and eat expertly prepared food too, if you live in an urban area with good restaurants that cook using fresh ingredients. This, along with experience gained following recipes, ends up giving you a mindset that you can use to create your own dishes. After several years of struggling with this issue I can finally sit down and say, “I’m going to make a pizza,” or “I’m going to make a pasta,” or “I’m going to make a sauteed fish dish with a side of greens and sauteed potatoes” and the ideas come out of the whole of my collective food eating, recipe following, and cooking experience.
But to make up your own dishes, night after night, without being a slave to recipes, requires experience and practice. You need to have a lot of experience with food in order to do this. If you have never cooked before you do need to follow recipes in order to understand what each ingredient does in the recipe and how to properly prepare it.
If our children grew up doing this activity with their parents instead of having McDonald’s Monday and Domino’s Pizza Tuesday, etc. (as one commenter posted above), then when they go off on their own they would already have these skills.
this is a great article! i love cooking but rarely have the opportunity to because i live on campus at college & don’t have a real kitchen for myself. our entire building shares a kitchenette- small stove, one sink, a microwave, and a kitchen. factor in the fact that the kitchen is three flights down (& no elevator) and there are no utensils/tools provided, it is even harder to be motivated to cook! i’m going to have to try though! my boyfriend loves for me to cook for him even though he thinks i’m no good.
So what is your daily food plan kind of like? I don’t know what kind of stuff to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and such. I eat healthily with little to no processed food and lots of veggies, but I can’t get rid of my last 10 pounds and was wondering what you do to keep it off food wise. PLEASE HELP!!
much love, you’re amazing.
Rachel =0)