I heard the fabulous Michael Ruhlman speak at Blogher Food 2010 in San Francisco last year. He was inspiring, honest and accessible. His love of, and knowledge of, food is vast. A couple years ago, Ruhlman wrote a piece on his blog outlining all of the reasons he cooks. He encouraged others to do so as well. Here’s my go at it.
Why do I cook? Well, as Ruhlman stated, in this day and age, it is self-defense. Goodness only knows what is added to our food these days. I’m a control freak. I like to know what I’m putting into my body. That’s a great reason to cook.
Like Ruhlman (he states he began cooking at age 9), I began cooking as a child. When I was in the 4th grade, I recall coming home everyday for lunch, turning on the electric pullout stove in our kitchen and frying up a kosher beef frank –that would be called a hotdog nowadays. My parents both worked full time and I learned to take care of myself early on.
By 5th grade we had moved to a new house around the corner. We had a yellow enamel gas stove. I came home from school for lunch almost every day and opened up a can of re-fried beans, heated them, then grated orange cheddar cheese on top. By high school, all of my friends came over for lunch just about everyday. I made them brown rice with refried beans, salsa and cheese. I also loved to bake cookies (they were not the gluten free kind in those days, prior to my celiac diagnosis). By the time I was a junior in high school I baked chocolate chip cookies and sold them at the tennis club where I taught tennis lessons. I was a busy girl back then!
I still love to cook. My two sons, as well as all of the boys in our neighborhood come to my house when they want to create a special baked good. Last week it was gluten free organic ice cream cake that the gang and I made from scratch. Sometimes it’s cookies, chocolate bark or cupcakes. Other days it’s salad. The gang loves my gluten free Asian Salad Dressing and gobbles down all of their salad when I serve this dressing over greens. I love baking with the boys, and feeding them, it is so much fun!
Like Ruhlman, I cook now because:
-I find it relaxing and meditative
-Cooking is great physical activity after hours of reading, researching, and writing
-I like to eat fresh, wholesome food
-It’s a way for me to give to family and friends
-I’m a Jewish mother so it is impossible not to (we like to feed people)
-It reminds me of good times in the kitchen with my mother and my bubby
Some reasons not to cook:
-I don’t have time
-I don’t know how
-I’m tired
According to Ruhlman:
“All of these are perfectly adequate reasons not to cook. I sometime use them myself. But they’re not reasons to never cook. The only good reasons never to cook are these: cooking gives me no pleasure, and eating doesn’t either. (This is genuinely the case for some people, and I’ll lay odds they’re not reading this post). Fast food is cheaper than fresh food and, as I am at the poverty level, I have little choice. (The saddest reason of all, and yet another reason for those who can cook, to cook. The more people who buy good food help to lower the price of that food through demand.)”
First, so many thanks go to Michael Ruhlman for all of his wisdom and inspiration –he’s a great teacher when it comes to food and cooking.
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Now it’s time for me to get back to the kitchen. I’m going to be making a yummy chicken stew since it’s so cold outside, and some delicious gluten free cake pops since the Super Bowl is coming up! What are you going to make?
Jeanette says
I too have been cooking since I was young. I love to eat different ethnic foods, and have found the only way to experience this without going too far is to make it myself. I also want to know what’s going into the food I feed my family, and the only way to ensure that is to make it myself. My kids have been exposed to so many different foods because I experiment a lot (not to say they like everything I’ve made), and know the difference between “real” food and processed foods. Recently, I found out one of my kids has lots of allergies (including gluten), so I am so grateful that I do know how and find enjoyment in cooking. I will be referring to your gluten free recipes a lot, so thank you!
Audra Taylor says
Why do I cook? Well at first it was because everything I didn’t cook made me sick. I remember when some friends gave me something they thought was dairy-free and wasn’t. Not being able the breath is a definate motivator for cooking your own food. It was SO frustrating at first. But today is different, I have recipes I love and rely on week after week. Today I am baking Coconut-flax seed bread and sunrise muffins. I also love to splurge with Elena’s choc chip cookies.
Thanks,
Audra
Joanne says
I cook for the same reason most with gluten issues cook. It is necessary for staying healthy
I cook because I enjoy cooking and eating healthy foods.
My sons cook, because I told them early on that cooking is a survival skill, and that is when they started learning. And bless them, they are both excellent cooks today. And their ladies love that.
Jenny says
My favourite reason NOT to cook is that I just woke up, caffeine hasn’t kicked in, I’m already starving, and I think a giant plate of breakfast should just magically appear in front of me. I think already being too hungry is my main reason to not cook… blood sugar has crashed and I feel like I might die and cooking will simply take too long. Of course usually, I do cook, and being gluten-intolerant really sort of forces that ; )
Emily says
Love this Elana!! I’m the same for why I cook (I especially like the control freak part :) And also, it is so meditative. I love your stories about cooking with your boys, they will be forever grateful to have learned from such a young age. Unlike you, I was not taught to cook at a young age and just ate what I was fed, even if my intuition told me not to. It took many years for me to figure out I had a choice about what was going in my body. It’s such an important skill to learn early, you boys will be able to take care of them selves for the rest of their lives. Love this! Oh- and I’m going to cook green beans and chicken now for breakfast….. not exactly yum, but you know why!
Rebecca says
I cook for the self defense reason as well. I also enjoy it most of the time. This post is a great motivational reminder for those times when I feel too tired to cook.
Debbie Patrick says
I hadn’t thought about cooking being such a nice counterpoint to reading, editing and computing all day, but as I help others self publish books, yes, that’s one of the reasons I cook, too.
It started with my grandmother and her passion for cooking (she used to take in boarders during the great Depression, and they raved about her dishes), along with my mother’s patience while I learned! I used to make homemade bread and sweetrolls at about 13 to make extra money because I didn’t like to babysit. Self defense is a large part of it now, too, with health concerns.
Today I’m making soup (because of the cold outside), along with napa cabbage salad and meatloaf.
Kathleen Ayers says
Yes, it absolutely is self defense! It’s also because we can get exactly what we want, without having to compromise. It’s also about control–we can determine exactly what we want to add to our food. It’s especially important to me as I confront a shrinking list of what I can order when I eat out. Thanks for the inspiring post and Ruhlman’s comments. I’m going to share this with some members of my local celiac chapter!
Sharon says
Hi Elena,
Do you have the recipe for the chicken stew and cake pops that you’re going to make?
Rhonda Ahrens says
I agree I would love the gluten free cake pops. Yummy!
Michelle says
“Self defense” sums it up.
I stumbled upon the connection between eating wheat and my ill health, about 10 years ago, before I had access to the idea of “celiac.”
I did not know how to cook or bake. I did know that my wheat issues were connected somehow to blood sugar/ sugar sensitivity issues. My ancestors were Italian – life without pasta and bread left me floundering. I tried to teach myself how to cook, but was frustrated by how many “wheat free” baking recipes were full of simple starches.
I eventually figured out enough to make due by adapting some whole foods recipes – Heidi’s blog at 101cookbooks was my best bet, so long as I avoided the baked goods, which rely a lot on sugar. I am eternally grateful to her for recommending your blog.
In addition to being entirely gluten free, all of your baked goods have relatively high protein and fat content, to help slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream. Your use of few ingredients makes it easy for me to figure out the function of each ingredient, which helps me learn more about cooking and also makes it easier for me to figure out what to substitute, if I need to. Best of all, I now use your recipes to take care of the people I love.
One of my family members had a heart attack. She was physically fit, very active, had normal cholesterol and there was no plaque on the arterial walls. They traced her heart attack to cracks in one of the valves of her heart – cracks that can be prevented with adequate intake of medium chain fatty acids – the fat found in coconut oil.
On the other side of my family, one of my family members had a stress-related stroke soon after the death of his spouse of over 50 years. He lost his best friend – and a phenomenal cook. He’s a runner, and a big guy, and can’t keep on the weight. When people complain that “sugar is bad” I usually point out that a batch of cookies is not meant to be a single serving size for an adult. But I’m happy to hand to this guy a batch of cookies made from an ElanasPantry recipe, because I know it will have the protein, fat, sugar, and calories he truly needs.
I insisted on making desserts for our traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner. The chocolate pistachio bark and the peppermint patties were favorites. Readers comments prepared me for the possibility of chocolate-that-wouldn’t-stick, and I new just what to do when that happened. I have the green light to make desserts again next year.
Tonight I’m hosting dinner for eight, and have been appointed to provide desserts. I just took the second batch of your macaroons out of the oven – they look like clouds with sun tans. Chocolate pistachio bark is also on the menu, by request. From Heidi’s blog, I’m making the Nikki’s cookies (gluten free oatmeal, chocolate, banana) and the triple ginger cookies, with a gluten free flour mix – though next time, I might simply use almond flour.
Thanks again for the recipes, but most of all for the education, inspiration, and affirmation.