Well I thought that I would be able to write a blog or two more than what I already have but alas, I have not exactly had much time...we have been pretty busy doing a lot lately; having fun mostly but it has kept me from keeping to this blog.
Recently we spent some time with family and friends that has been well overdue. It was exactly what dreams and the best memories are made of. Josie had an absolute ball and was able to experience and meet new people as well as become even more acquainted with people we already know and love. One of the most unexpected delights of the experience was that we were able to be given a bit of a crash course in some traditional cooking and culture from our Serbian heritage. Being that I am a complete ignoramus this way, I figure Josie and I can learn together.
One night we sat down to the very usual delicious meal that had been served to us by our family (more specifically, my cousins wife who lovingly prepared any possible meal she could to show us how it is made according to tradition). Josie sat as usual, choosing what she would try. She requested that I place mashed potato in the middle of her plate and that she would handle the sauce from the stuffed capsicum. She picked up the spoon and delicately drizzled it around the edge of the plate, so that it looked just so. She informed me that this is how one must present sauce on a plate for the main course. I can safely assume that she has learned this from one of her favourite shows that seems to be on 24/7.
Naturally, I would prefer that she worries about the way a home made sauce that is presented on a plate than nuggets and chips in a box with a toy, which she also loves. But it has got me thinking about this show, and many others that seem to really gear cooking to a science and art form, so much so that people in their frenzy will queue up four hours for a bloody macaroon or go so nuts that supermarkets will sell out of lambs brains. Its a real insanity.
I have always enjoyed cooking shows. They are interesting and used to be fairly light entertainment. And being that food is a necessity, well its nice to know how to make something that is ordinary a little interesting. But I have noticed a real shift in the way cooking and 'cheffing' has become elevated now to the point of rocket science. Eight layers of vanilla, test tubes on Bunsen burners, shooting a look a like carcass to draw (fake) blood before we tuck in - what happened to some spag bol or a bloody club sandwich? I used to think a club sandwich was a pretty special deal. Now if I want to enjoy fine dining, unless it looks literally like steaming vomit spurting through a volcano and tastes like the rarest truffle sniffed out by a super-sensory pig, I just simply haven't lived. Nor can I be an expert on what is good for me.
And to be a total hypocrite, I really am amazed at the extraordinary in anything, particularly cooking. But I fear that the extraordinary is now the new ordinary in food preparation and service, relegating any type of fine dining experience to the elite or the elite to be. I can and would enjoy any adventure when it comes to food, love the creativity, but lets face it, this new trend en masse is not really giving me or my daughter anything I can actually use. It gives us peasants something we can aspire to. And honestly, I resent being told to aspire to food preparation. I have survived this long without it.
The huge absence for me in these shows, which in their favour do generate creativity and amazement around cooking for children as well as adults, is that there is clear oversight of resourcefulness. Home ingredients are largely absent, minus the basics, and most all of the other ingredients are 'imported'. When I say imported, they may be from overseas, or within Australia interstate. Regional ingredients are largely ignored. Seasonal food is kind of cool, so that is mentioned but the exotic equates to rarity. And this usually means that these ingredients are resourced 'elsewhere'. Being limited to these ingredients, in a frenzy we shop for the crucial staple that is the 'hero' of the dish. Hero??!!! When did the brain of a lamb become a hero???!! And panic sets in if the hero is no longer available. What will we do? Oh my God! Looks like we might have to come up with plan B - BBQ chicken and chips.
Anyway, my rant has taken me away also from the direction of my crash course. My 'teacher' who I am very happy to say is also now my friend as well as family, taught me as much as she could in a short time regarding creativity and resourcefulness. It was normal for her. But there are people all over the world surviving with out steamed cockles in saffron, yet are able to make strudel from ingredients that they have (and most of us do) in a home pantry. No special trip to the supermarket with a list of expensive and exotic ingredients. And another pretty simple and basic thing that simply hit me was that if something is in season, well priced and available, buy a stack of it (or grow it if you can), preserve it, make nectar from it and make jams from it. Not a new idea of course, but they can be used in many many different ways in cooking a home made meal, and not just for their obvious choice. That's where you get creative I guess...
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