"Sustainability doesn't mean a thing if we can't get people to cook." -- Elissa Altman"The more I work on these issues having to do with our whole food system, the more I realize that our problem is a cooking problem." -- Michael Pollan
The impressive growth of community farmers' markets in the US over the last fifteen years presents us with a great opportunity. While food deserts and other inequities remain a serious problem, access to fresh, local food is on the increase. However, for this trend to gain real traction and have a permanent impact on food access and health in underserved communities, we need systems in place that teach and encourage people to cook, to see the healthful and economical advantages of home cooking, and to share that knowledge with others in the community.
Many organizations do parts of what is necessary, in piecemeal fashion, at a handful of markets each. Now what is needed is a networked clearinghouse of ideas and best practices, recipes, demonstrations, and clear and concise methods for getting people excited about preparing and sharing fresh, wholesome, local food. We can do this while respecting local traditions and cultures, without condescension, using economically, culturally and ethnically appropriate ingredients and methods.
My vision for farmers' markets is that they aren't just places to buy food you can believe in, but community centers that support change in the food systems with resources and education. They are already gathering places for people with some common values, and they are, more and more, playing a role in food assistance. With some key, specific interventions, they could become places that seed deep structural and cultural change.
I envision a "Public Hearth" for public health. It was once common for communities to have a large oven in the center of town where everyone brought their dough to be baked, and everyone shared in the bounty. A modern-day version would not be so much an actual oven per se, but would bring people together to learn, to share, and to cook. Imagine a young mother finding not just a farmers' market within reach of her home, not just fresh, local whole foods, but knowledgeable local people she knows and trusts and resources to help her make the most of the ingredients available. Farmers' market cooking demonstrations with trained chefs and local home cooks, once solely the province of high-end markets, now right within reach of the people who need it most.
Read the whole essay at www.RealFoodForAll.com
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I agree that having access to local is only half the battle. I attended a potluck last night where one of the desserts was store-bought no-bake chocolate-oatmeal cookies. You read that right: no-bake chocolate drop cookies out of a clear plastic box. Who buys those? I mean, it takes only a few minutes to make them. Amazing.
We are creating whole generations of consumers instead of citizens.
It's a social outing and a way to swap or learn recipes, get nutrition advice, and/or get out of a rut.
It's also something that could be modified to mingle grandmas who can cook with younger mothers who only know how to microwave.
These days people's primary emotion regarding food is fear, when it should actually be love.
Lots of people bring up the point that fast food is not really cheap, even feeding your family from the dollar menu can get pricey. But, if you were raised, as so many have been the last couple of decades, in a house where no one cooked, what do you do when you're on a tight budget and want to start cooking, but have no knowledge of even basics?
Or, say maybe you took classes at the farmers market, checked out some cookbooks from the library, what do you do now? No frying pan, dutch oven, sauce pan, knives, cutting board, mixing bowls, spoons, thermometers, cookie sheets; let alone, spices, flour, no pantry basics of any kind. How do you start cooking when you have to buy the bare bones of all those tools and pantry items just to get started with very basic cooking? Some of these items can be pretty cheap, but altogether, it adds up, and that, I think is a huge part of the cooking problem.
I've got a well-stocked kitchen now, but over the years I've learned that a pizza pan can double as a cookie sheet. One 1.5 quart saucepan and 1 non-stick frying pan, as heavy as you can afford, may do for starters. The minimum number of knives is a chef's knife and a paring knife, plus a sharpener. You can get measuring cups, measuring spoons, plastic/nylon mixing spoons, a spatula and a whisk at a dollar store; ditto oven mitts and a couple of plastic bowls. A 9 x 13 cake pan also works for casseroles -- you just have to cut back on heat or cooking time a smidgeon.
Then assure people that you prefer good quality cooking stuff to jewellery for Christmas. (This is a very hard sell to the man in your life.)
Spices and other ingredients can be obtained as needed in recipes. I've never found a useful-sized canister set. I've used gallon and 3 gallon ice cream buckets, the latter being 3 for a dollar from the local ice cream shop.
They get volunteers to work on CSA farms, and in return the farms give CSA shares, which LFC distributes to needy families along with education and even some kitchen tools and such.
And Mark Bittman wrote a great pice a few years back about a minimalist kitchen - fully equipped for about $200 - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/dining/09mini.html
The piece on stocking a kitchen is very good. I have become a firm believer in my restaurant supply store. I realize 200 isn't much at all, even less than I would have guessed, but for the working poor, it is a bunch of money, I wonder if there is a organization that could take on helping supply low income folks with these items? I might suggest that to our food bank, they seem to have a fair amount of corporate support, maybe they could put together kitchen kits?
Thanks for your work on this. Too many people to feed in this country.
Tackling cooking is a tough road to hoe. Most people who cook find cooking enjoyable & relaxing, & they like to eat what they cook. They are willing & able to spend money on making their kitchen convenient. Unfortunately, despite the numbers of cooking shows on TV, this is a relatively small number of people. Back when mothers stayed home, probably 1/3 of their time was devoted to shopping & cooking from scratch. It was their job. Family dinner was at 5 or 6. Now, if one has a job, one gets home from job & commute around 7pm.... tired & grumpy. That's if one does not have a job with an upside down schedule. If one could just cook & not have any prep or clean up time, then people might cook more. But there is only so much time in a day... or an evening. I, personally, want a few minutes to just sit down. By the time I've cooked, I am no longer very interested in what I've prepared. I'm tired & even tho' I'm hungry, it's a chore to eat & I eat fast because there's the chore of cleaning up.
Plus, many people are alone. If you want people to start cooking from scratch again, then an entire society needs to be reorganized... we need to begin to think about food as a way to relax, but it can't be when there's no time to allow it
This model is intended mostly to deal with people in food-insecure neighborhoods, who even if they do have access to a farmers market very often do not know what to do with the food there or are intimidated by how the market works, looks, and feels. But it can work for everyone.
Modern society has indeed convinced most people that cooking is a chore. Yet how is it that despite a century of technological "progress" we seem to have less time on our hands now than we did 100 years ago? Cooking does not have to be labor intensive, expensive or irritating. I can can in fact be quick, cheap, and fun! But it does require the know-how and some planning, and for those willing to do it, I think this Public Hearth idea will help many of them.