Whatever Gordan

As a food culture, we do ourselves few favors. Every year I ask myself why more people don’t head for the farmers markets, sign up in droves for CSA shares, spend time in the kitchen, and seek to work on farms. Over the years, I’ve been motivated less by the thought of a food revolution and more on the individuals who care enough to make food important, and do head to the markets, do spend time in the kitchen, and do the work in the fields. 

I understand, of course, that there are real and pervasive systemic issues as to why more people don’t purchase their food this way or pick up farming as a vocation. There can often be a feeling of exclusivity, or expense, or issues of access of all kinds. These issues are big and need more uptake at the voting booth, and the ability of us to all participate in some good old mutual aid. 

But there are cultural reasons too. 

The first reason that comes to mind: most people in the last several generations didn’t have a parent or grandparent in the cuisine teaching the rest of the family how things were done handed down. Since the mid-20th century Betty Crocker had long done her damage. The work of the kitchen had been effectively reduced to what is convenient, what is fast, and can the marketers convince the marketed that something is flavorful and good, even when it’s plainly not. The generation before mine, mine, and the ones after, by and large, have grown up with little food culture in the house. There are the lucky few, but they are few. 

This first reason has the negative of a lack of roots, a lack of direction. But it also has the silver lining of starting from scratch. For those of us who stumble into the kitchen after making out way into the world, we have to cook all sorts of terrible meals year after year. But when one grows up without a culture, you can find what works without the burden of tradition, make terrible meals that slowly get better. Take what works and leave the rest behind. It’s a double edge sword, that. 

There is a second reason that hits me in the food media at large that bombards us. I am fully aware that there are wonderful chefs out there, and they tend to be the ones with their shoulder to the wheel. That being said, when I look around the world of cooking in the media, it seems like we are bombarded with the Gordan Ramsey’s of the world, making people feel like when we enter a kitchen we need to know precisely what we are doing, that the results should please the most sophisticated of palates (even though many palettes that claim sophistication are total BS, but that’s another story). There is a culture of saying that you must meet a standard to prepare food for others. That food is high art, instead of a folk song. That it must be a Louis Vuitton and never some patched up jeans. And that we don’t have a place in the kitchen if we can’t high roll and present with dry wit and perfect placement. I think before we even enter the kitchen, we have our own little Gordan sitting on our shoulder, cursing us. “What the ^%&$ are go going to make, huh? What are you even doing here? You’re no &#@*@* cook”.

Of the more recent generations, many of us walk into a kitchen and firstly, feel lost, because no one helped us navigate early on. And then on top of that, have an internalized Top Chef cursing bloody murder..

The down side is that it can often take years of blundering about in the kitchen to figure things out. But it’s doable if one is comfortable without a map, and able to say, “Yeah, whatever Gordan.” and flick that little booger off your shoulder.