I read somewhere that although we cook food, food ultimately cooks us. I suppose this sounds nice enough, but what on earth does that mean?
Well, it’s vague enough to allow anybody to fill the statement with a meaning that is personal to him or her, so lets try it on.
It seems to be a fairly straightforward formula. Your health and well being are fundamentally dependent to the quality and quantity of the inputs (ingredients) you use.
It stands to reason that if you put junk in, well junk is all that will come out. Except it’ll show up in you, you’ll look and feel like junk.
Now I realize that in order to be healthy there are other requirements such as sound, adequate sleep, a strong social network, and of course our good friend Mr. Exercise. However, in order to develop and maintain these other components, attention must be given to diet. How can you expect to be highly social and engaging if you are malnourished? If you’re malnourished you’re more vulnerable to illness, and if you’re ill then you will struggle to be engaging….You see where this is going. Proper nutrition is absolutely critical to one’s well being. The exciting news is that the generation of tomorrow is becoming aware of this; there’s a spark in the minds of many that maybe good, wholesome food holds much more value than the public has been giving it.
Now, I’m a firm believer that if you want to do a job right, proper tools are a necessity. Not the most expensive, or the most well known. No, they just need to be MADE well.
If you pick yourself up a proper Western chef’s knife or a santoku blade (the Asian equivalent) it’ll set you on the right path towards better cooking and better eating. Shoot for a forged blade and it will likely last you a lifetime. Yes, only one knife for the rest of your life.
If you’re an environmentalist at heart, which many claim to be, then you have a social responsibility to start cooking for yourself properly. If you really believe in the greater good, you’ll stop buying as much processed and packaged food as possible, adjust eating out to an acceptable level and then start providing for yourself.
Who knows, once you start cooking you might find you want to try your hand at vegetable gardening and growing food for yourself, and believe me, that is a whole other world of positive experiences and supreme personal satisfaction.
culturejunkjam posted this