The Joys Of Home Cooking
You can travel the world tasting different dishes but if you do it right you’ll always find something exciting in your own kitchen.
As many across the western world have discovered, researching dishes, buying the ingredients, spending time preparing and cooking to finally sit down and eat something you made is so fulfilling.
2020, the Pandemic Year, has seen an increase in people going to great lengths to make the most out of their kitchen, a space that I believe is often neglected. Go back to March, April and May of 2020 and those months were dominated with people posting on social media about their new found love of baking sourdoughs and banana breads.
People are cooking more and more at home and I think we’re better off for it.
Recently I’ve found myself connecting with ingredients that I’ve never used before. Fennel and sardines pasta served with a crusty Italian version of croutons called pangrattato, a perfect dish for late winter. This is something I’d probably never order out but at home I can love the process and dive into something new.
Governments, like the bungling Boris lead UK government, are encouraging people to eat out to help out their economies. But what I’d like to see is more people encouraged to shop local, buy from local fruit and veg providores, wine merchants, meat butcheries, bakers and patisseries and then take those home to connect with the food on a new level.
This is something that could even be subsidised by federal or state governments in the form of cash handouts, vouchers or prepaid cards that can only be used at certain locations. Injecting funds directly into local business, stimulating local jobs and keeping money in the community. Who know — with more people eating local bought fruit and veg we may even see a decrease in obesity and unhealthy eating habits.
After the pandemic, be it the end of 2021 or further into the future than that, I wonder how many people will sizzle, boil and fry back in their own kitchen? How many of the fermenting sourdoughers will continue their lockdown love affair?
