Friday, July 31, 2009

Cooking and television

Michael Pollan:

Maybe the reason we like to watch cooking on TV is that there are things about cooking we miss. We might not feel we have the time or the energy to do it ourselves every day, yet we’re not prepared to see it disappear from our lives entirely. Why? Perhaps because cooking — unlike sewing or darning socks — is an activity that strikes a deep emotional chord in us, one that might even go to the heart of our identity as human beings.

Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch (New York Times)
I’m happy to be part of a family in which everybody cooks.

comments: 4

your daughter rachel said...

:)! We are all the next food network stars, imo.

Michael Leddy said...

Oh, definitely. : )

stefan said...

If anyone is interested in an explanation that's polar opposite to Pollan's, check out Fredrick Kaufman's "Debbie Does Salad" in the Oct. 2005 issue of Harper's Magazine. It's a fun, smart article, (but I should perhaps warn readers who miss the title's allusion that in it Kaufman compares production values on the Food Network to those in pornographic film).

Michael Leddy said...

Thanks for the suggestion, Stefan. I remember that piece. It’s online at the author’s website.