I love that my son Bert and his friends, mostly in their twenties, gather at one another's homes to cook and eat together. Having past the inevitable teenage nightlife scene, these young people now gather to eat good food, drink good wine and make good conversation.
Inevitability people who have grown up in an environment where food was part of the way their families communicated will go on to nurture relationships through food.
We have seen a lot of role reversals in western society, 14 per cent more men cook now than they did in the 1960s. Women's growing involvement in the workplace has meant the reduction in their cooking has been real and substantial.
Since the 1980s cooking from scratch has been on the decline. In spite of being bombarded with cookery books and TV programmes we have become a culture of food spectators rather than participants.
Yet at some very deep level, we miss cooking, an activity that is part of what makes us human. Bert's circle of friends have an interest in food culture and provenance and a realization that we are reaping the rewards of a highly processed diet. Having been brought up amidst a McDonald's culture, many young people are leading the changes.
Food websites have seen a burst of traffic as younger people want to try their hand at cooking. The more technology becomes a part of cooking, the more the younger generation will start to take part in it. Social networking and other online platforms have made trading recipes and cooking tips fun.
I have often lamented the lack of food education here in the UK, however, as of now, September 2014, the word cooking has re entered the curriculum, decades after home-economics classrooms were converted into computer or design and technology suites. There has been a growing realisation that whilst exam results have improved and our children are computer literate, they are not learning the basic skills of looking after themselves. Food education is a life skill and should be up there with numeracy and literature.
There is a new enterprise called Root Camp, a groundbreaking field-to-fork venture aimed at getting 15-21 year olds cooking together. This hands on cooking/camping course has youngsters learning everything from farming and sourcing to cooking for others, I shall be writing a post on this in some detail but meanwhile visit the website www.rootcamp.co.uk/
Our throwaway culture manifests itself perhaps best in our kitchens, due to convenience and consumerism our society has fallen victim to today's attitude of disposability. Young people aren't as familiar with cooking with leftovers as our grandmothers who used up ingredients to make hearty soups and stews. As you all well know by now, my repertoire consists of many 'hotch-potch' dinners (which Glenn lovingly refers to as 'mash-up' dinners) they are crafted from using leftover carcasses and bones to use as a base for stock to which I add vegetables, pulses or anything that's leftover.
After roasting a chicken I always place the carcass in a large pot with a couple of onions and some herbs, cover with water and a loose fitting lid and simmer for 2 hours to make a delicious broth. Once cooled the stock can be frozen.
Lentils are one of my favourite ingredients, low in calories, high in nutrition and extremely cheap, this hassle free pulse is a compliment to any hotch-potch dinner. Rinse thoroughly and simmer in a pot for 15 minutes and your lentils are ready to add to your soup, stew or curry.
Left over roasties sliced up make a lovely topping for a Shepherds pie.
A hotch-potch pie: leftover mixed vegetables, lentils, chicken stock, some shredded meat, topped with a combination of mash and roast potatoes.
'For is there any practice less selfish, any labour less alienated, any time less wasted, than preparing something delicious and nourishing for people you love?'
- Michael Pollan
Love Donna xxxxxx
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