Since When Did Cooking Become Such A Chore?
And why do people comment that they ‘can’t believe I actually cook dinner every night’? How come some women have even asked me didn’t I think it went against women’s rights to prepare dinner for my husband?
Um, really?
Call me old-fashioned, but I like having a lovely dinner waiting for my husband when he comes home after a hard day’s work.
Of course, many of us have a schedule so tight for time we feel like we are always running from one appointment to the next, but how and when did the act of preparing a meal and eating it become anything less than a top priority?
We need to eat, we need to sleep; these are basic human needs yet many of us underestimate the importance of both and eat a diet made of horrendous non foods and barely get enough sleep. You may feel you can ‘get away with it’ for a while, and certainly there are times when there doesn’t seem to be another option other than burning the candle at both ends, but at least think about what you’re doing and see if you can’t juggle things around at least a little to accommodate these two little things- eating real food and sleeping- and give them a bit more attention.
A comment to the editor of the NY Times’s Dining section in regard to an article in the previous week’s edition stated:
“Why is it ok for people to complain about chores like laundry or cleaning the bathroom but not cooking? To me, cooking is another kind of chore, a claim on my time to produce something not very good“.
Is that it? Are people frightened to try cooking? Or do they collectively see it as something that robs time better spent doing something else more important?
How is eating real food, which is at the very foundation of our health, not that important?
If you’ve never cooked in your life, don’t worry- it’s never too late to start. Cooking is fun. I learned to do it years before I ever went to culinary school, just by having an interest in nutrition and food and reading cookbooks. Unlike baking, it’s much harder to ruin a dish. Think of it as an art project! (I go into more detail on this in Paleoista, so if you haven’t read it yet, please do!).
Anyway, it’s not like you need hours per day to slowly peruse the farmer’s market and then spend the entire evening making a feast. If you have the time, fantastic, but most of us don’t, and you don’t need too much. Ever hear about my Hour in the Kitchen?
A busy schedule should not be a reason to not eat real Paleo food or an excuse to eat junk.
Make time for your health, for goodness sake! If you don’t eat food, and don’t move you simply cannot reach your healthiest potential.
Choose to make the time.
And, I must add, cooking is so not in the same category of cleaning bathrooms.
