Lazy Food

[talon]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8572009.stm

It's really not the food that's lazy, it's the people who buy it already cleaned, peeled, sliced, and/or chopped that are perceived as lazy in this article.

I'm of mixed mind about this. On the one hand, real food already cleaned, peeled, and cut up into cooking sized pieces is a blessing for handicapped people - temporary or permanent. When your arm is in a cast, trying to peel and chop fruits and vegetables is a challenge. Trying it with only one hand for the rest of your life can be daunting. Developing arthritis can make dextrous kitchen skills a thing of the past. Why should these people forgo real food just because they either can't or would have a very hard time preparing said food?

For their sake (and occasionally, mine, like now with this ongoing wrist issue), I applaud the prepped food. After all, chefs have assistants who clean and peel, chop and dice, core and slice their foods before cooking it. Why shouldn't home cooks have the same advantage, especially if they have dexterity challenges?

On the other hand, recipe-ready foods distance people even further from the food origins. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in the case of people using such food when pressed for time. In fact, if the difference between having real food and manufactured food depends upon the food being recipe-ready, I say yay for the recipe-ready choice. But I think the real, un-prepared foods should be prominently displayed next to the recipe ready ones and pictures of the intact food should be on the packaging as both a reminder that the food doesn't look that way naturally and as a teaching tool for children.

I was sort of stunned when the article said " some of them [children] think milk comes from a tiger or a chicken." I can understand the tiger - there's a product called Tiger's Milk that could be confusing for children, but chickens?

I agree that relying exclusively on recipe-ready foods is a bad idea for a number of reasons: 1] the sanctity of food is lost, 2] the provenance of the food is lost, 3] the increase of contamination is a real concern, 4] recipe-ready foods aren't as fresh and flavorful, 5] seasonality is lost. These are all serious concerns to me, even as I rely on recipe-ready foods at busy times and when I've injured myself. Some of them remain concerns for those who have life-long disabilities that prevent them from prepping their own real foods - contamination and flavor-loss being the highest on that list of concerns.

I circumvent some of my concerns by spending some time prepping my own foods in advance - cleaning, peeling, coring, slicing, chopping, dicing, etc. and then freezing what can be frozen. I'll even freeze blends - my creole and cajun blends of onions, peppers, celery, and carrots, my soup base blends of onions, celery, garlic, and carrots, my chili base of onions, chilis, bell peppers, garlic, and celery; all of these in appropriately seasoned butter so I can make those dishes quickly when I'm pressed for time. A couple of hours a year provides me with a year's worth of recipe-ready vegetables in the freezer so I can weather injuries and time issues and not have to worry about contamination issues. There's still a flavor loss but I deal.

I think otherwise able-bodied people should spend a little time preparing a meal from scratch. They don't have to do every meal from scratch or even a meal a week, but at least once a month, to make a meal from all real foods bought in season and as fresh as possible. I think they should grow at least one harvest of salad vegetables and eat them once a year, or do sprouts once a year. I think they should try their hand at making mozzarella or cottage cheese or yogurt or butter at least once a year just to remind them that food is more than a convenience.

I think everyone should have and practice basic kitchen skills just because I firmly believe that if we eat we need to know how to feed ourselves. I don't make each meal from scratch so I don't expect others to do so, either. But I do expect them to know what an unpeeled orange looks like, where milk comes from, and how to tell the difference between a mango and a papaya. I expect them to know how to chop veggies for a soup or a stir fry. I expect them to know the difference between top sirloin and bottom round, between legs and wings, and that "nuggets" are chopped pieces of meat, not a part of an animal.

So, while I use and appreciate the availability (if not the price!) of so-called "lazy foods", I believe we shold all spend some quality time in the kitchen making the occasional meal totally from scratch. And if it's done with friends, so much the better.