To Cook or Not to Cook

“Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch” recently appeared in the New York Times Magazine. In the article, noted food writer and activist Michael Pollan discusses how Americans have over the years moved away from cooking and have turned increasingly to packaged and processed foods as well as dining out for our daily meals. Many of us eat one or more meals every day prepared by someone outside our home. And “cooking” at home often means heating up something in the microwave oven or making a sandwich. The amount of time spent on food preparation has decreased in this country by 40% since the 1960s while, ironically, there’s been a tremendous rise in the number of television shows that feature cooking as entertainment. Pollan argues that we as a culture lose when we forego preparing our own meals and become dependent on corporations to “cook” our food. When we don’t have to cook our meals, we eat more of them and they tend to be higher in calories. He points to research that ties cooking to dietary health, which might have some bearing our current obesity epidemic.

What can we do to stop this growing alienation from food and cooking? Pollan ends his piece with this thought: “Here’s my diet plan: Cook it yourself. That’s it. Eat anything you want — just as long as you’re willing to cook it yourself.” Now that’s something to think about.

Pollan, Michael. "Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch," New York Times Magazine, August 2, 2009.