Behaviours/On Cooking

Cooking: prepare food by heat; undergo cooking; falsify (accounts) exhaust; one who does cooking....

Do you love to cook? Just imagine if you were a gourmet cook with access to all those lovely gadgets that i just dream about; all those wonderful food preparation devices. Wouldn't it be great to have a huge walk-in pantry stocked with up to the minute cookware, cookbooks, linens, spices, coffees, and condiments; chafing dishes, wicker baskets, exotic vinegar and oils, knives, baking pans to name just few of the must-haves as would the welcome additions of a variety of food-related implements to prepare with ease the pastas , cappucinos, cakes and ice creams. A decent grinder, food processor, and ice cream maker could save time on following the age old processes - my guess is that these foods would still taste just as good but be on the table faster.

Certainly better than the pre-prepared, pre-cooked, pre-packaged frozen goods on offer today. Well everything has its' place and this ensures that everyone in a hurry can at least eat. I just happen to think that the pre-prepared food of today must miss out somewhere along the line - even if it is just in the fact that there are no hunger stirring, welcoming smells issuing from the kitchen as you come in your own front door. - ok so I forgot the coffee, but one cannot live on love or indeed the smell of coffee alone.

But wait for it - have you heard? - it's in the news - apartments have and are now being built without kitchens - I can't believe it but "Yes" Ladies and Gentlemen it is true - at least in our part of the world. That is in Canberra and Sydney.

These apartments are being being built for the next generation. For the people who have not had time to learn to cook, don't know how to cook, are completely disinterested in cooking, or maybe with the pressures of their busy careers, do not have time to cook; whatever the reason, these apartments have been built to cater for their special needs. These new apartments come complete with a built in nook just big enough for the microwave , a little fridge and a kettle. And should you actually want to cook a decent meal with these oh so exciting, white goods, then you just go shopping to that purpose built, dedicated frozen food store near you, and after making a fine but hopefully edible choice you purchase your frozen delicacy in a box;- a box you just to chuck into your micrwave before removing from it's package to serve to your guests. Epicurian.

As I understand it these purpose built supermarkets have been built solely to cater to these requirements, nothing else like e.g. a good steak,or a fat chook has been allowed to slip through this specific net to break down the carely planned guidelines. And what is more, big is considered good in this instance, because these food stores consist of miles and miles of aisles laden soley with this frozen pre-packaged food. While every type of food is available it only comes in the frozen variety. And as these stores are dedicated to supplying these dinky apartments with the frozen instant packages of whatever takes your fancy; they will also obviously come with riders that a) the food must come in a frozen package and b) can be stored in a freezer and c) is microwavable. So I guess plastic rather than metallic containers would be the go. It makes me wonder whether you would have to particularly dress for the shopping occasion? Imagine having to wear your overcoat , gloves and a hat so you that don't suffer from frostbite while doing your weekly shopping!

And if you thinky darkly on this advent could it be the newest way to gain mass control over our very sustenance?. And what if like a canker, the frozen food production grew and overtook the fresh food production and then became the norm - the type of food people would be expected to live on. And what would we eat if the controllers of the frozen food industry decided not to feed us or indeed the rest of the world. How would we exist or subsist for that matter. An unforeseen control could be exerted onto the human race. Taking away the food really means taking away the people.

And if this (a.k.a. a conspiracy theory with oomph) is taken to the enth degree could not one be blamed for wondering where all the seeds are going or indeed have already gone - you absolutely wouldn't expect to find any in a pre-packaged packet of frozen carrots. And if this indeed is being presented to the new single apartment dwellers as the way of the future, it could well be too late by the time they realise what has happened, for them to be able to do anything about it... a fait accompli for the powers that be.

It is also quite possible that with the advent of genetic engineering a huge hub or store house of seeds is being stockpiled for the sole reason of controlling people and their needs. No more growing your own food as easily as your forbears, more money in the purses of the government or world authority, even a return - God Forbid - to the days of the Lords and the serfs - those very dark ages.

And what of the fate of the farmers, the back bone of every nation, the expert hunters and gatherers. No seeds surely equals no growth. No growth no fresh food. No jobs for farmers and no fresh food for the individual.

So sad as this is to those of us who equate cooking and the eating of real food with loving and caring, it would seem that the fast modern pace of life is surely overtaking many of us.

copyright: a.a.gallagher may 2009

allrights reserved