On Cooking
Nothing brings people together like food. Obviously we need it for basic survival but I would propose there is more too it than that. It could be the desire to connect, or maybe its that it lights up the pleasure centers in our brain. It's a craft that you can get good at and get a tasty treat at the end of. You can swap recipes with other people and discover the next magic spell. Could that be it? Is there an element of magic that we long for that cooking brings us? Why, in a world where we cook less and less are food shows becoming more popular? Michael Pollan contends that we have replaced traditional cooking with watching cooking shows. A poor substitute to be sure. Learning how to cook has to be one of the most rewarding hobbies one can enter in to. I would challenge everyone to try and start by perfecting one dish. Just one. Then another, and another.
I would even contend that you can teach almost all of school through food. You teach kids a valuable life skill, with a lesson they are more likely to remember and you get to eat something at the end. For example did you know that Baklava uses honey because they had not discovered sugar yet in the middle east? Or that the Sandwich was invited so an Earl could keep gambling? Chicken wings used to be used only for stock and were for decades considered the worst part of the chicken? That solves the history problem. You could even teach math through baking using ratios and measurement. As they say baking is science cooking is art. Teach science showing the chemical reactions of say yeast in warm water. There is a infinite amount of examples one could come up with.
It is a travesty that our modern American age has left so many young people without even a basic understanding of how to properly make a simple dish like Spaghetti. There are a few skills in life that I would consider force multipliers. A term I first heard Tim Ferris use. Meaning that it enhances all other aspects of your life. Things like weight training, meditation, reading are all force multipliers. I would put getting decent at cooking up there with a bullet. Crafting an fantastic dish is certainly as creative as say making a record or writing a book.
If you want to lose weight understanding how calories and carbs work will get you there. If you want to gain muscle, understand protein and carb interaction is vital. If you want to know why most gluten sensitivity is nonsense because you kneed dough to develop the gluten protein. You want a lot of gluten in say pizza dough and next to no gluten in a muffin for example. Even just to save tons of money. You can eat like a king for a fraction of the price of going out. Once you learn how to do it all you can even pre make everything in advance so all you have to do at the end of a long days work is reheat.
Maybe its because in our modern society our homes are divided with both parents working so there is no parent at home that can teach the kids this basic skill. Maybe in our fast food on every corner world we have just become too lazy. But I would challenge everyone to seek out the advice of Gordan Ramsey, Jamie Oliver, Alton Brown, and even Tim Ferris with the Four Hour Chef and learn some basics. I can't think of too many more rewarding journeys. Seeing your first loaf of homemade bread is not a feeling that can be bought on a dollar menu.