|
 Cooking
Skills
Recent
evidence suggests that there has been a
gradual decline in cooking skills over the
past few decades. Acquiring good cooking
skills is being viewed as old-fashioned
and maybe even no longer necessary in an
increasingly technology based world. A recent
survey of 7-16 year olds in England (Caraher
et al, 1999) showed that young people's
cooking skills were greatly influenced by
technology. For example, cooking food in
a microwave rated higher than cooking from
scratch.
Cooking
skills frame the way people see food, and
the availability of foods determine, to
some extent, the type and range of cooking
applied. Inadequate cooking skills and knowledge
are a concern as they can lead to poor diet
and subsequent nutritional deficiencies.
Advances in technology and increasingly
busy lives have led to an increased consumption
of ready-to-eat meals. People may have the
attitude that if they can purchase meals
that require minimal preparation, why bother
to learn how to cook. The availability of
ready-to-eat foods removes the need for
cooking skills in order to put food on the
table. If people do not have adequate cooking
skills they may rely on these types of foods
for meals. The popularity of pre-prepared
foods has not lessened the importance of
cooking from basic ingredients. Many people
attempt to pass off pre-prepared foods as
their own, which indicates what is socially
acceptable. A particular concern with the
popularity of pre-prepared foods is that
people will unknowingly consume large quantities
of fats and sugars, at the expense of other
more important nutrients and anti-oxidants
which may protect against disease.
We are yet to discover if relying on pre-prepared
meals from the supermarket will result in
comparable health to that from home-cooked
meals made from scratch. In the latter situation
you have control over the ingredients and
will try to use the best and freshest, and
include a greater quantity and variety of
ingredients, e.g. bottled pasta sauce vs.
home cooked sauce - bottled sauce may not
contain the extra virgin olive oil, garlic,
herbs, vegetables, etc. and therefore may
not be as phytochemically dense.
Many nutrition based organizations promote
foods such as rice, pasta, fish, and fruit
and vegetables without adequately addressing
the skills and knowledge needed to prepare
these foods. In addition, many people may
possess these skills but may not put them
to good use. People from higher socio-economic
groups seem to be the most likely to choose
not to cook from basics. It is not known
whether this is because they can afford
it financially, because of lack of time,
because it is culturally acceptable, because
they cannot cook, or a combination of these
factors.
Historically, it has been the duty of the
mother to pass cooking skills on to the
daughter, and cooking was seen as a woman's
domain. This is increasingly changing, with
many men showing an interest in food and
even taking it up as a full time occupation.
We are seeing increasing numbers of men
working as chefs in restaurants and many
male chefs hosting television cooking shows
and writing for food magazines.
Public interest in food has soared and this
is evident in the number of cooking shows
on television around the world, and cook
book and magazine sales. Caraher et al,
(1999) are concerned that "the growth
of cookery programs on TV may well be leading
to cooking becoming a spectator activity
rather than an active or participant activity."
The main concern with the popularity of
cooking programs is is that they do not
seem concerned with cooking healthy food,
instead they often cook with high fat foods
such as cream and cheese. Cooking is seeing
a shift from being viewed as a daily chore
to a leisure pursuit, with many people indicating
that they like to cook for pleasure, to
'de-stress' or to exhibit their creativity.
Cooking for leisure is most often seen among
the higher socio-economic groups.
Acquiring the skill to cook has beneficial
outcomes. It gives a person the ability
to cook from basics, which in turn, provides
a basis from which their cooking ability
can develop. Having the skill to cook from
scratch opens up a whole new world of foods,
textures and tastes. Once you know the basic
principles of cooking, you can experiment
with different ingredients and cuisines.
References
Caraher,
M. & Lang, T. Can't cook, won't cook:
A review of cooking skills and their relevance
to health promotion. Int. J. Health Prom.
& Educ., Vol.37; No.3; 1999 pp89-100.
Last
Updated: April 5, 2001
|
