Home ec. or lessons for scratch cooking

[Trek420]

it bewilders me when even some people, ie. single, childless women /men who complain "how much time" it takes to cook at home. Really? Scrambling eggs for 1 person with some cut veggies and onion is not a huge effort. Under 10 min. Same for a totally different dish of washing, cutting and sauteeing Chinese green leafy veggies in a bit of oil and 1 small of soy sauce. Same amount of time for this side vegetable dish.

We who live in urban areas have access to fresh produce, or are able to grow our own, we who have creative and or ethnic foods and the knowledge and time to learn how to use and enjoy them, wealth and leisure to explore and shop around for the perfectly ripe summer fruit .... we sometimes forget that whole sections of our cities, sometimes whole towns do not have access to grocery stores.

My own wife grew up so poor that though there was a grocery store nearby the family could not shop there, instead sometimes surviving off charity from a church and often raiding the dumpster behind the store. It's impossible to get fresh produce under those conditions. It isn't laziness that keeps people from cooking and prevents them from being scorned by wealthy home cooks, it is poverty.

I never felt poverty or hunger as a child, living on a farm food abounds. Besides our crops we always had a garden and bartered what we did not grow with neighboring farms. But when I asked my Mom & Dad why we supported the UFW (United Farm Workers) since we owned a farm they replied something like "we are in the same boat. We earn about the same. The only difference is we own the land". So we were very poor, I never knew it.

In the Bay Area, where I formerly worked as a chef, large areas still lack grocery stores. They have liquor stores or fast food. Grocery stores and banks do not go to these areas. Working class and urban poor sometimes working 2 jobs are not going to be able to go to the farm market and fast food advertises as the friend of the busy and/or working poor "got a buck? you're in luck".

I'm glad to see a growing (pun intended) movement of non-profit groups literally bringing farms and fresh produce to urban areas.

Rather than criticize others for not eating in the way we are truly blessed and privileged to enjoy, I hope we can all support, donate and/or volunteer for groups bringing gardens to needy areas. Here are just a few:

http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.734899/

[PamNY]

We who live in urban areas have access to fresh produce, or are able to grow our own, we who have creative and or ethnic foods and the knowledge and time to learn how to use and enjoy them, wealth and leisure to explore and shop around for the perfectly ripe summer fruit .... we sometimes forget that whole sections of our cities, sometimes whole towns do not have access to grocery stores.

This is a very good and important point. I was glad to see NYC is at least documenting this problem. You don't want to know what I said to friends and neighbors who think we are among the underserved -- I guess because the store with the best kiwi fruit doesn't stay open 24/7? What will come of the survey, I don't know, but at least the issue is being addressed

One good thing -- farmer's markets are available in most neighborhoods. I've even seen chickens in community gardens. We still need plain old grocery stores with reasonable prices available to everyone.

Pam

[Deborajen]

I took Home Ec, took cooking in 4H, Mom taught me a little, both Grandmas taught me a little, -- I guess after all those lessons you could say I know how to cook, but the meals I come up with always seem uninspiring. I love to bake but when it comes to meals, my creativity is pathetic.

I still have my recipe card box from Home Ec and still use a lot of recipes from back then. We had this goofy old lady come in and do a demonstration every year in Home Ec. She was from the Gas Service Company and she showed us some specifics about using a gas stove and gas oven (and explained that vs. using electric, etc.). She had these blue flame earrings that we all made fun of. But she did make some good casseroles and I still have (and use) those recipes.

Mom and I took a cooking class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking a few years ago and that was fun. I'd love to learn how to make some of the fancy flaming dishes someday.

So I've learned in Home Ec, at home, and all over.--

Deb

[PamNY]

IShe was from the Gas Service Company and she showed us some specifics about using a gas stove and gas oven (and explained that vs. using electric, etc.). She had these blue flame earrings that we all made fun of. Deb

Those earrings would go for a lot of money on Ebay.

[shootingstar]

It isn't laziness that keeps people from cooking and prevents them from being scorned by wealthy home cooks, it is poverty.

I never felt poverty or hunger as a child, living on a farm food abounds. Besides our crops we always had a garden and bartered what we did not grow with neighboring farms. But when I asked my Mom & Dad why we supported the UFW (United Farm Workers) since we owned a farm they replied something like "we are in the same boat. We earn about the same. The only difference is we own the land". So we were very poor, I never knew it.

We were urban poor, 5 children in 1-bedroom apartment in small southern Ontario city. (probably broke the fire code in maximum occupancy). My father was a restaurant cook in a Chinese restaurant his (not his own) his whole working life. We were just fortunate our mother was a full-time housewife who can't speak English..which probably limited employment opportunities (and caused other problems too complex to express here). Yes the food dollar had to stretch. No ethnic groceries (except for German stuff) in our city in the 1960's-1970's. But dishes still were 'Chinese' in taste and cooking technique for certain foods.

I dimly knew we were poor, perhaps by food because we were encouraged to eat whatever was on our plate. But didn't how poor until we moved into a 3 bedroom house later (where 6th child came later).

Sorry if I sounded clueless, but really that was not the intent. Depends on which context of "cluelessness". I disagree in some ways that poverty = possible lack of cooking skills. I have relatives who fell into the same income bracket for lst 15 years after immigrating to Canada. All restaurant or sewing factory workers. They bought food carefully in terms of saving money and cooked not to bad. (actually quite well, better than my mother). It wasn't access to local markets, but simply cooking with whole veggies and meats, habits probably carried over from growing up in Chinese rural villages where processed foods just wasn't the norm 40-60 years ago.


*Like cycling, you if you see a cyclist who maybe riding slow, that maybe that person already had cycled 100 kms. that day. Unless you ask, you don't know.

[Duck on Wheels]

Took cooking in 4H + learned from Mom. Here in Norway, home ec is required for both girls and boys, so my kids learned the basic techniques (including basic laundry and home-cleaning techniques) and a few handsfull of recipes in grade 5 and again, somewhat more advanced, in grade 8. Each of those years, there was a practical "exam" that involved planning and executing a housework day at home, shopping for the main meal, at least one major cleaning chore (laundry and ironing, say, or washing windows, or ...), cooking and serving a 3-course meal when the rest of the family got home, after-meal cleanup, and writing a report including an account of the meal's cost-per-serving. Teacher dropped in sometime in the course of the day to see how things were going, and parent(s) filled out an evaluation form (great opportunity for positive parental recognition there!). When UK went to college in the US, her roommates were living on pop-tarts while she was baking bread and making soups from scratch. She now makes the family meal if she happens to be visiting Th'giving or X'mas; cooks better than I do! DS caught the eye of his first gf by cooking her a meal of lime salsa shrimp on tagliatelle ... while on a hiking trip in the mountains! When training a women's volleyball team, he baked them each cakes for their birthdays. There are things I'm critical of in Norwegian schools, but the gender-neutral home ec requirement is one thing I'm really pleased with.

[PamNY]

I disagree in some ways that poverty = possible lack of cooking skills.

No amount of cooking skill will solve the problem of access to fresh food. Here is an article that explains the matter in my city. Other cities have similar issues.

The link Trek420 posted is very informative -- I hope you looked at it.

[shootingstar]

No amount of cooking skill will solve the problem of access to fresh food. Here is an article that explains the matter in my city. Other cities have similar issues.

The link Trek420 posted is very informative -- I hope you looked at it.

The efforts to establish more grocery stores with fresh food, closer to where people live is always helpful. Guess it remains to be seen are mechanisms for long-term changes to using fresh food regularily to change regular eating habits to something healthier, etc.


Thread is more reflecting on how we acquired knowledge of cooking technique, nutrition in the past and how we did/didn't act on such knowledge or if we did, under what circumstances.