AmeliaJane
6-19-13, 1:37pm
I thought this book might be of interest to the forum, so I gave it its own thread instead of putting it the "What are you reading..." thread...I found it on the Mr. Money Mustache forums...
Basically the premise is that the author found nine women who were cooking-averse or cooking-inexperienced and gave them a series of cooking lessons. The women come from a variety of circumstances, from a stay-at-home mom to a young married woman to a person who had gone through a lay-off and was facing serious financial problems. By far, my favorite part of the book was when she visited each woman's home and asked her to cook something, and asked some questions about why the women shopped and cooked the way they did. It was, I think, the most thoughtful and respectful look at people's less-than-stellar food habits I have ever read, while also still being honest. For instance, several of the women talked about how they used processed foods because they were "guaranteed to turn out right." Several had either past or current people in their lives who were very critical or teasing of cooking mistakes, and they didn't feel they could take risks in the kitchen. That is something I have NEVER heard discussed in any conversation about prepared or processed foods--usually people go straight to "Don't use them" or even "People who use processed foods are lazy, ignorant, (fill-in-the-blank), etc."
When she got into the actual cooking lessons, it was mostly standard "food evangelism" which I did not find as interesting although I did like the way she addressed overshopping and the use of leftovers, and her honesty about realizing she was making some of the same mistakes, like overpurchasing and "helpful" criticism of her husband's cooking, at home. And although she did try to dial back the food/cooking snobbery, there was one point where she went to make a wrap-up visit to each kitchen, again asking each woman to cook for her, and one woman used a food processor to chop onions instead of the knife skills she had been taught. The author's response was, "Well, even if she is using the food processor, that's OK because she's cooking real food for herself" which came off as very condescending. Maybe the woman just liked the food processor better!
Overall, though, I think the book is very worth a skim, and it was really thought-provoking about why so many people choose not to cook, even when there are clear benefits for them. If anyone else had read it, I'd be curious about what you thought.
Basically the premise is that the author found nine women who were cooking-averse or cooking-inexperienced and gave them a series of cooking lessons. The women come from a variety of circumstances, from a stay-at-home mom to a young married woman to a person who had gone through a lay-off and was facing serious financial problems. By far, my favorite part of the book was when she visited each woman's home and asked her to cook something, and asked some questions about why the women shopped and cooked the way they did. It was, I think, the most thoughtful and respectful look at people's less-than-stellar food habits I have ever read, while also still being honest. For instance, several of the women talked about how they used processed foods because they were "guaranteed to turn out right." Several had either past or current people in their lives who were very critical or teasing of cooking mistakes, and they didn't feel they could take risks in the kitchen. That is something I have NEVER heard discussed in any conversation about prepared or processed foods--usually people go straight to "Don't use them" or even "People who use processed foods are lazy, ignorant, (fill-in-the-blank), etc."
When she got into the actual cooking lessons, it was mostly standard "food evangelism" which I did not find as interesting although I did like the way she addressed overshopping and the use of leftovers, and her honesty about realizing she was making some of the same mistakes, like overpurchasing and "helpful" criticism of her husband's cooking, at home. And although she did try to dial back the food/cooking snobbery, there was one point where she went to make a wrap-up visit to each kitchen, again asking each woman to cook for her, and one woman used a food processor to chop onions instead of the knife skills she had been taught. The author's response was, "Well, even if she is using the food processor, that's OK because she's cooking real food for herself" which came off as very condescending. Maybe the woman just liked the food processor better!
Overall, though, I think the book is very worth a skim, and it was really thought-provoking about why so many people choose not to cook, even when there are clear benefits for them. If anyone else had read it, I'd be curious about what you thought.