It's never been easier
- rosemary
- 15 hours ago
- 4 min read
"Many of my most pleasing suppers have been one-off, chucked together affairs made with whatever was to hand. A question of making do. I rarely write them down, assuming that no one else will be interested in something that simply filled a hole with whatever happened to be around at the time." Nigel Slater
Me too I could say. I've been trying to write some of these one-off recipes down, but inevitably I forget, And besides why bother? As Nigel says - they are one-off affairs - totally dependent on what was in the fridge at the time. The pantry is the support system.
My oldest grandchild turning 18 and beginning to look at her future - universities and all of that has made me ponder on how these kids will learn to feed themselves in the future. It is even making me consider writing some kind of small book that will give them a start on playing in the kitchen. For that's what it can be - a joyful game, a challenge, an experiment. It shouldn't be a chore. And when it inevitably does feel like a chore - I bet even Nigel thinks it's a chore sometimes - then there are easier options out there - and there's always bread and cheese. Perhaps with a tomato. Or beans and toast.
Today's title - has a few different meanings really. It has never been easier to feed yourself entirely on take-away food. You don't even have to use UberEats, or some such delivery service, as you probably have a number of take-away food outlets in your own suburb. My immediate reaction to this proposition is that it's expensive. But is it? Not really I guess because it depends on what you choose. I mean McDonald's is cheap isn't it? Not really. I just checked and a big Mac will apparently cost you $8.60. And as the supermarket magazines show you each month you can produce a meal for much less than that per portion. However, something from an ethnic or other kind of takeaway will cost you considerably more. Chicken butter cream, without the rice and all the other trimmings, at our local Indian will cost you $23.00 for example.
It has also never been easier to prepare a meal from pre-cooked or semi-prepared things in your supermarket. Jars and packets of spices, and sauces - just add meat - or veg. Frozen meals, semi-cooked meals or marinaded meats. All there for the taking - at a price. And let's face it, many of those jars of sauces are tempting. I once needed pesto, and had no home-made pesto, so I went to the supermarket to buy a jar - which at that time would have cost me around $5.00 - maybe more, although now I see there is a home-brand version in Coles - probably Woolworths as well for a mere $1.95 - which is in fact cheaper than a home-made version with a bunch of fresh basil, some pine-nuts, olive oil, Parmesan and garlic. Back then I just couldn't bring myself to spend the $5.00 or so for a jar, and bought a bunch of basil for $2.50 - more like $3.50 now - and made my own. It took five minutes and I had all the other ingredients anyway. And there's all those other unknowable ingredients in some of those products as well. Generally speaking however, all of this pre-made or semi pre-made stuff, costs more and sometimes contains questionable things.
So back to those teenagers, or twenty somethings, leaving home and having to feed themselves.
It's also never been easier for them to cook their own food either. Not necessarily because of having learnt this stuff at school - or even by cooking with mum. But there are endless recipes online - either just recipes or TikTok, YouTube and Instagram videos, not to mention television proograms and, now, AI. I gather that you can ask Chatgpt, or Alexa or whatever your favourite AI buddy is, what to do with what you've got.
Even little old, old-fashioned me, now checks out the internet for ideas, as well as my cookbooks. No, let's be honest, if I'm in a hurry or feeling lazy I will just ask Google - like I did the other day with my chicken and cauliflower problem. See the results below from a Google images search on 'chicken cauliflower'. So much to choose from.
Reading Nigel's quote, however, did make me think, that yes, both he and I - at different levels of expertise of course - can nevertheless look in the fridge, know you've got to do something with that cauliflower, know what you've also got to help make it interesting, know various techniques so you can make something. It's fun - especially if the end result is eatable. More than eatable is a bonus. And that's because as children we cooked a little bit, or at least watched mum cook and helped a little bit; and then when we left home, we cooked from recipes which taught us a whole heap of stuff, so that in the end we could indeed just look in the fridge and concoct something.
I don't think this happens to the kids of today, So I have started to think about writing a cookbook for them - not so much with recipes - more for the know-how. What would it include? The basic types of dishes that there are that don't need recipes; the very basic equipment you can get away with; what goes with what; basic cooking methods ... Starting points.
I might do it, but I suspect it will be politely received and then just put away. Really I need to get them all in a kitchen give them stuff to choose from and leave them to it. I don't think that would go down too well either.
How to make them see that it could be fun - or even just simply pleasing? That's the hard part.
YEARS GONE BY
September 2
2024 - Lists, coincidence ...
2021 - COVID lockdown version two
2020 - Missing
2018 - Nothing
2017 - Bubbles
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