Why we don't cook anymore | Ken Albala | TEDxSanJoaquin
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0:05 - 0:10So, I'm going to speak to you today
partly about why people don't cook anymore -
0:10 - 0:13but also more importantly,
I think, why people should. -
0:13 - 0:17It's an idea which sounds so very simple;
I hope it will prove revolutionary, -
0:17 - 0:21and I'm going to try and argue why
people should spend time in the kitchen. -
0:21 - 0:25Actually, I really wanted to have it
written on my hands - "Go cook!" -
0:25 - 0:27I didn't do it, but I'll do it afterwards.
-
0:27 - 0:29Think about this for a second -
-
0:29 - 0:31In the past 20 years,
-
0:31 - 0:35there has been a meteoric rise
in interest in cooking. -
0:35 - 0:36I mean, you see it everywhere.
-
0:36 - 0:38It's in popular media;
-
0:38 - 0:42there are best-selling books
about food and about cooking; -
0:42 - 0:45there are TV programs
about cooking all over the place; -
0:45 - 0:47there are magazines -
-
0:47 - 0:51just everywhere you look
in the media, someone is cooking, -
0:51 - 0:53and I should say that this,
kind of interestingly, -
0:53 - 0:56also in the past 20 years,
has spilled into academic interest. -
0:56 - 0:59You will see food conferences proliferate;
-
0:59 - 1:02there are several huge encyclopedias,
-
1:02 - 1:04food series, journals,
-
1:04 - 1:07and of course, college classes -
I teach one of those. -
1:07 - 1:09So it's not just in the popular media;
-
1:09 - 1:12it's pretty much everywhere
you see people obsessed with food, -
1:12 - 1:13which is great.
-
1:13 - 1:16But oddly enough, at the same time
that this is happening, -
1:16 - 1:21all evidence shows that there is
a decline in actual cooking at home. -
1:21 - 1:23Of course, there are some people who cook,
-
1:23 - 1:25some crazy people
who just love spending time there. -
1:25 - 1:28Interestingly, the studies show
it's men increasingly cooking, -
1:28 - 1:29which is very interesting.
-
1:29 - 1:32But on a whole, if we look
at the average American, -
1:32 - 1:37we cook less, we spend less time
in the kitchen than before, -
1:37 - 1:40and that should seem
sort of weird to you, right? -
1:40 - 1:42But I think there's evidence
that shows this, -
1:42 - 1:46just sort of anecdotally, if you go
through your average supermarket, -
1:46 - 1:50you stroll down the aisles,
especially the center aisles - notice - -
1:50 - 1:53you will see a proliferation
of convenience foods. -
1:53 - 1:54And what do I mean by that?
-
1:54 - 1:56There's canned foods;
-
1:56 - 2:00there are frozen foods,
a whole huge aisle just for frozen foods; -
2:00 - 2:02and things which I'd call sort of prefab,
-
2:02 - 2:05and that doesn't necessarily
mean pre-made meals, -
2:05 - 2:08it means things that kind of give you
the illusion that you're cooking -
2:08 - 2:09but you're not really.
-
2:09 - 2:12A cake mix, I think,
is the best best thing, right? -
2:12 - 2:15It takes the same amount of labour
to put together a cake mix -
2:15 - 2:17as it does to put together
raw ingredients, -
2:17 - 2:19but they charge more for that cake mix.
-
2:19 - 2:22And you sort of walk away feeling happy -
"I cooked something, look what I made!" -
2:23 - 2:26Now, I want to really ask this,
in all seriousness, -
2:26 - 2:30is this a kind of conspiracy
on the part of the food industry? -
2:30 - 2:31Did they set out to say,
-
2:31 - 2:34"Let's make sure these people
don't know how to cook; -
2:34 - 2:35let's ruin all their skills;
-
2:35 - 2:38within one generation, we're going
to make sure no one can do anything -
2:38 - 2:41so they become dependent on us,
on the stuff we make." -
2:41 - 2:43And I don't think anyone,
well, maybe they did, -
2:43 - 2:46but I don't think anyone
actually sat down and decided that, -
2:46 - 2:48but it's clear what they did
-
2:48 - 2:52is they realized that if we do things
that are "value-added," -
2:52 - 2:54that's the term the industry uses,
-
2:54 - 2:58if we can charge more for product
because we have prepared it - -
2:58 - 3:00we've done something to it,
so it costs more - -
3:00 - 3:02we'll increase our profit margins.
-
3:02 - 3:03Very simple.
-
3:03 - 3:07You take a box of Tater Tots
and the same weight of potatoes, -
3:07 - 3:08these cost a lot more;
-
3:08 - 3:12Tater Tots make more profit, so they
will do that sort of thing for you. -
3:12 - 3:16Okay? Again, a prefab food
is to make profit, right? -
3:16 - 3:20Now, I was thinking, well, okay,
so people eat some processed food, -
3:20 - 3:23but the statistics I found
are actually slightly alarming. -
3:23 - 3:28Processed food accounts for
80% of food sold in the U.S. -
3:28 - 3:30That's in terms of profits.
-
3:30 - 3:32It's not the volume,
the weight or anything; -
3:32 - 3:38it's the money that is made in food:
80% of that is not cooked in a real way. -
3:38 - 3:42The USDA says that in terms of volume,
-
3:42 - 3:46we eat 31% more packaged food than fresh.
-
3:46 - 3:48So, convenience foods are -
-
3:48 - 3:50this is a fact,
I'm not just making this up - -
3:50 - 3:54are sort of taking over
the landscape of our food ways. -
3:54 - 3:56There are other things that are important,
-
3:56 - 4:00microwave ovens, you know,
simplicity of preparing these things now. -
4:00 - 4:04I think it's also very clear -
and this is just anecdotal evidence - -
4:04 - 4:08that eating out has proliferated,
and people have done studies on this, -
4:08 - 4:11that we're eating out a lot more,
and it's not high-end restaurants, -
4:11 - 4:13especially since the economy has slid,
-
4:13 - 4:17it tends to be what they call
"downscale casual restaurants," -
4:17 - 4:18things which, I guess -
-
4:18 - 4:22just drive up and down Pacific Avenue
or across March Lane, -
4:22 - 4:25and you will see, you know,
Applebee's, Chili’s, TGIF, -
4:25 - 4:28Red Lobster, Marie Callender's;
there's dozens of them! -
4:28 - 4:30That’s not even to mention the fast food,
-
4:30 - 4:34just these sort of chain restaurants
that are prefab, homogenized, -
4:34 - 4:36things shipped in from elsewhere,
-
4:36 - 4:39and of course, just sort of
warmed up there, and you eat it, -
4:39 - 4:41but that's on the rise as is takeout,
-
4:41 - 4:44that's another phenomenon
that is meteoric in rise. -
4:44 - 4:49And the weird thing is,
this whole entire phenomenon, -
4:49 - 4:54is the more we watch cooking on TV
and read about it magazines, -
4:54 - 4:57the less we actually do it, okay?
-
4:57 - 4:59It's sort of like sports or sex, right?
-
4:59 - 5:01People want to watch it a lot,
-
5:01 - 5:04but the more we watch of it,
the less of it actually happens. -
5:04 - 5:07I don't know how they know that
about sex but, it's ... -
5:07 - 5:08(Laughter)
-
5:08 - 5:11What's weird is -
stop and think for a second - -
5:11 - 5:13these are really
biological necessities, right? -
5:13 - 5:15We need to eat, feed ourselves.
-
5:15 - 5:18We need to compete;
that's hardwired in our systems. -
5:18 - 5:19We need to reproduce.
-
5:19 - 5:22And yet, as a society,
we're not doing so much of that, -
5:22 - 5:24we're not as good at it
as we used to be. -
5:24 - 5:25I don't know.
-
5:26 - 5:30In any case, it is what
food historians call "deskilling," -
5:31 - 5:32and I think you can see it.
-
5:32 - 5:35You just turn on the TV
and watch any food TV program; -
5:35 - 5:37it's really not about instruction anymore.
-
5:37 - 5:41I mean, in the days of Julia Child,
she'd stand in front of the table, -
5:41 - 5:43flop a chicken down and say,
"Here's how to cut it up." -
5:43 - 5:45That just doesn't happen anymore, right?
-
5:45 - 5:48It's now about entertainment;
it's now about competition; -
5:48 - 5:52it's about, you know, someone
trying to build the highest cake; -
5:52 - 5:54it's about eating weird things;
it's about traveling - -
5:54 - 5:58very little of it is actually
instruction anymore. -
5:58 - 6:02Now here's a question -
I'm a historian, so I always ask, -
6:02 - 6:05"If we cook less,
what's the real evidence?" -
6:05 - 6:08That implies that in the past,
people must have cooked more, right? -
6:08 - 6:11Somehow they were cooking up
a storm back then, -
6:11 - 6:13and today, we just don't anymore.
-
6:13 - 6:17Well, the evidence is a little
contradictory, I have to admit. -
6:17 - 6:19You know, if we look at the past,
-
6:19 - 6:21we tend to think
that cheap, fast restaurants -
6:21 - 6:23are a modern phenomenon - they are not.
-
6:23 - 6:28Every city would have had its,
you know, sort of cafeterias and taverns -
6:28 - 6:32and places where you could just go
and find cheap, quick food. -
6:32 - 6:36Fast food is its own phenomenon,
but it exists in the past also. -
6:36 - 6:37There also -
-
6:38 - 6:41Very interestingly, if you look
at the way people lived in cities, -
6:41 - 6:44tenements often didn't have
cooking facilities. -
6:44 - 6:47That means people had to
eat out, necessarily. -
6:48 - 6:50There were also things
like boarding houses, -
6:50 - 6:52where you'd live there,
and they would feed you, -
6:52 - 6:54and that's a very common phenomenon,
-
6:54 - 6:56just a hundred years ago.
-
6:57 - 6:59So what other kind of evidence is there?
-
6:59 - 7:02If you look at cookbooks per se -
-
7:03 - 7:04I like to tell people cookbooks
-
7:04 - 7:07are absolutely no indication
of what people in the past ate -
7:07 - 7:08nor today, for that matter.
-
7:08 - 7:10They're really aspirational.
-
7:10 - 7:12People read them;
they're sort of, you know, -
7:12 - 7:15they're prescriptive,
they're not descriptive. -
7:15 - 7:19You open them up, sit in your armchair,
say, "Oh, wouldn't that be nice to make?" -
7:19 - 7:20you put it away, right?
-
7:20 - 7:22Rarely do people cook out of them,
-
7:22 - 7:24but I do have to say,
-
7:24 - 7:29150 years ago, cookbooks were
a lot more complicated than they are now. -
7:29 - 7:32The techniques that they're talking about,
the range of ingredients, -
7:32 - 7:34I mean, even 200 years ago,
-
7:34 - 7:36there's a recipe
for how to cook a whole turtle, -
7:36 - 7:39I mean things that we just
would never think of doing anymore. -
7:40 - 7:44And it is a fact that 150 years ago,
there were no convenience foods. -
7:44 - 7:48Canning was not yet - it was invented,
but no one was really using it. -
7:48 - 7:50There were no frozen foods;
there were no prepared meals, -
7:50 - 7:56and I think also, very importantly,
there was a much lower urban populations, -
7:56 - 8:00so people who lived out in the country
had to cook if they wanted to eat. -
8:00 - 8:02It doesn't mean it's good,
but they had to cook. -
8:03 - 8:05Let me give you some percentages.
-
8:05 - 8:08Recently, the percentage
of home-cooked meals -
8:08 - 8:09cooked from scratch
-
8:09 - 8:16dropped from 72% in 1980 to 59% in 2010,
-
8:16 - 8:19I don't know how they document that,
but that's statistics, okay? -
8:19 - 8:24Now, looking at this situation,
nutritionists have thought about this, -
8:24 - 8:26government bureaus
have thought about this, -
8:26 - 8:30obviously the USDA and everyone
are thinking, typically, -
8:30 - 8:33"What do we do about this situation?
We must educate people." -
8:33 - 8:37And you all know there's been
a slew of programs -
8:37 - 8:40like to teach cooking in grade school;
-
8:40 - 8:43there have been school gardens,
which have been very successful; -
8:43 - 8:47culinary courses in community colleges,
extension programs; -
8:47 - 8:49and, of course, more cookbooks.
-
8:49 - 8:51They just keep churning these things out.
-
8:51 - 8:54There's also a whole brand
of nutrition education, -
8:54 - 8:57which means, "Let's try
this shape pyramid. -
8:57 - 8:59No, that doesn't work;
let's try another pyramid." -
8:59 - 9:02It's all very politically driven,
you probably know. -
9:02 - 9:04You know, milk and meat
and grain and corn; -
9:04 - 9:09that's what we grow in this country,
so that's what shows up on the pyramid. -
9:08 - 9:10And I think the nutrition education -
-
9:10 - 9:13the funny thing about it
is it never works. -
9:13 - 9:17One of the topics I've written about
is nutritional theory 500 years ago. -
9:17 - 9:18No one paid attention to it then,
-
9:18 - 9:22and, I think, for the most part,
they don't do it today either. -
9:22 - 9:26People really want what tastes good
and not really what's good for you. -
9:26 - 9:29And the tendency of these cookbooks
and the education, -
9:29 - 9:33in general, has been to simplify
simplify, dumb down everything; -
9:33 - 9:36if we have to tell them
how to boil water, we will. -
9:37 - 9:40The other thing, which is
my own personal ax to grind, -
9:40 - 9:43is the modern recipe format.
-
9:43 - 9:45Think of what happens
when you open up a cookbook. -
9:45 - 9:47It has to be a list of ingredients;
-
9:47 - 9:50it's assuming you work
in a professional kitchen - -
9:50 - 9:52we'll need your mise-en-place.
-
9:52 - 9:55It has very precise measurements;
-
9:55 - 9:58if you put a quarter-of-an-inch more,
a cup more of something in that, -
9:58 - 9:59it's going to be ruined,
-
9:59 - 10:02or, Heaven forbid, you substitute
something else, it won't work. -
10:02 - 10:04This is the implication.
-
10:04 - 10:06Very precise cooking times,
-
10:06 - 10:08which with the exception
of maybe cakes and cookies, -
10:08 - 10:11how long you cook something,
really doesn't matter. -
10:11 - 10:13And think of it this way:
-
10:13 - 10:16how many people here have a GPS device?
-
10:16 - 10:18One of those things
that navigates for you. -
10:18 - 10:22Think of what that does
to your ability to navigate intuitively, -
10:22 - 10:23to look at a map and just say,
-
10:23 - 10:25"I'm heading north,
maybe I should go this way." -
10:25 - 10:28GPS devices have caused people
to drive onto railroad tracks: -
10:28 - 10:32"I'm following the directions,
right? It's got to be right." -
10:32 - 10:34The same thing has happened in cooking.
-
10:34 - 10:36Precise, precise recipes calls people
-
10:36 - 10:39to trust the recipe
and not their instincts, -
10:39 - 10:42not what really is going on in the pan,
not what they could see! -
10:42 - 10:44It says, "Bake this for one hour."
-
10:44 - 10:46Even if it's burning in the oven,
-
10:46 - 10:49they'll say, "Oh, it says.
The recipe says. I have to follow it." -
10:49 - 10:53Now, I totally understand
why cookbook authors do this. -
10:53 - 10:55They need to copyright their work, right?
-
10:55 - 10:57They want to write
very specific directions. -
10:57 - 11:01They want to be original and new
so they can have a niche in the market, -
11:01 - 11:04and they, therefore,
have to make things original. -
11:04 - 11:08Therefore, they're going to give you
something as precisely worded as possible, -
11:08 - 11:10and I think it is dangerous.
-
11:10 - 11:13I think it's really ruined
our ability to cook. -
11:13 - 11:14So let me give you my solution.
-
11:14 - 11:19I hope this sounds as revolutionary to you
as it did when it first occurred to me. -
11:19 - 11:22As I say, let's lose cookbooks;
let's toss them in the trash, -
11:22 - 11:24and especially this modern format.
-
11:24 - 11:25You're probably saying,
-
11:25 - 11:28"Hey, wait a minute,
doesn't he write cookbooks?" -
11:28 - 11:29I do, but they're not cookbooks.
-
11:29 - 11:32They don't have measurements,
cooking times or anything like that. -
11:32 - 11:36They're really to teach you
how to cook intuitively; -
11:36 - 11:40they're there to tell you
how to use a certain ingredient, -
11:40 - 11:42what kind of technique will work
on that ingredient, -
11:42 - 11:44what procedure could work,
-
11:44 - 11:46and I think that way
it becomes a lot more fun. -
11:46 - 11:50You're not just there, slavishly
following my directions because I said so; -
11:50 - 11:53you're finding an ingredient
and "Hmm, let's try this with it!" -
11:53 - 11:56And if you fail, so what?
There’s food tomorrow. -
11:56 - 11:58But it teaches you to cook.
-
11:58 - 12:03I think spending more time in the kitchen,
doing these kind of basic tasks, -
12:03 - 12:06I think we have a problem
in that we consider that a chore. -
12:06 - 12:09We think this is something
you just got to get it over with, -
12:09 - 12:11get it done as quickly as possible;
-
12:11 - 12:14taste doesn't really matter,
get it in, it's fuel, -
12:14 - 12:15go on to more important things.
-
12:15 - 12:17Well, honestly, what is more important?
-
12:17 - 12:21I hear people tell me, "I love to eat,
I love food, I love this." -
12:21 - 12:22"Did you cook something today?" "No."
-
12:22 - 12:25I stopped on the way, or something.
-
12:25 - 12:27So I think the important thing to do
-
12:27 - 12:32is stop thinking that quick,
convenient, easy, simple things -
12:32 - 12:33are worth your energy.
-
12:33 - 12:36They're not; they're usually junk.
-
12:36 - 12:39And start thinking about things
that take a long time -
12:39 - 12:42or that are difficult
or even that are dangerous. -
12:42 - 12:45I twisted my back something awful,
picking olives the other day - -
12:45 - 12:46I crush them by hand.
-
12:46 - 12:48It was a silly thing to do,
I don't recommend it, -
12:48 - 12:52but still, it's just the willingness
to just get in the kitchen, -
12:52 - 12:53see what happens and have fun.
-
12:53 - 12:57I think the result of this idea
-
12:57 - 13:00is that people will spend
a lot more time in the kitchen, -
13:00 - 13:05perhaps less time watching TV
or other non-active, passive, things. -
13:05 - 13:08I think cooking will be a lot more fun;
it'll be a creative outlet. -
13:08 - 13:12I hate to say it, but there is no way
microwaving popcorn is fun - -
13:12 - 13:14it's just putting something
in the microwave - -
13:14 - 13:18or even following someone else's recipe
just doesn't sound like fun to me, -
13:18 - 13:20and, I think, most importantly
-
13:20 - 13:23is even those people who really
love to cook, when do they do it? -
13:23 - 13:25When they're entertaining,
maybe on the weekend, -
13:25 - 13:27maybe as a kind of hobby.
-
13:27 - 13:30It shouldn't be a hobby; it should be
an integral part of people's lives. -
13:30 - 13:33It should be something they do every day.
-
13:33 - 13:35Let me make a proposition.
-
13:35 - 13:37It's going to sound
sort of weird and arbitrary, -
13:37 - 13:41I think people should spend
at least an hour every day cooking. -
13:41 - 13:46And I say this only because the US
Department of Labor’s survey in 2010 -
13:46 - 13:48said that the average American -
-
13:48 - 13:51and this is as a head of household;
it doesn't count the kids - -
13:51 - 13:56spent 32 minutes each day
preparing food and cleaning up. -
13:56 - 13:58That means - let's divide that
by several meals, perhaps, -
13:58 - 14:00and half that time is cleaning up,
-
14:00 - 14:02so 15 minutes per dinner -
that's about average - -
14:02 - 14:06compared to 2 hours
and 45 minutes watching TV. -
14:07 - 14:11Unproductive and, obviously,
very productive to spend cooking. -
14:11 - 14:13And I think the most important thing
-
14:13 - 14:17is that sharing food
is fundamentally satisfying; -
14:17 - 14:19it's what makes us human:
-
14:19 - 14:22feeding, sustaining other people,
giving them nourishment, -
14:22 - 14:25taking your creative energy,
letting it flow through something living -
14:25 - 14:27and making it sustain us
-
14:27 - 14:30is the most valuable, rewarding thing
you can do for others, -
14:30 - 14:33and of course, it's the basis
of all of our rituals, right? -
14:33 - 14:35You never have a party without eating,
-
14:35 - 14:37you never do anything
without somehow consummating that -
14:37 - 14:40by sharing food, breaking bread,
whatever it may be. -
14:40 - 14:44I think it is fundamentally
a spiritual thing for our species. -
14:44 - 14:48You might argue also fresh food
is better for your health. -
14:48 - 14:51That's not my primary concern here,
but that's what physicians tell us: -
14:51 - 14:54food prepared from scratch
tends to have less, -
14:54 - 14:57you know, preservatives
and other junk in it, -
14:57 - 15:01but the one thing I will argue is that
preparing food from scratch is cheaper. -
15:01 - 15:02Go to McDonald’s.
-
15:02 - 15:05I tried to find out the price
of a hamburger, online last night; -
15:05 - 15:08it's impossible to find, I don't know why.
-
15:08 - 15:10I'm guessing it's probably
about three bucks. -
15:10 - 15:13And then by the time you get there,
by the time you wait in line, -
15:13 - 15:15you know, spend all this time,
-
15:15 - 15:17think of how much a pound
of ground beef costs - -
15:17 - 15:21let's say you're really
money conscious here - $1.99. -
15:21 - 15:22If it's a quarter pound hamburger,
-
15:22 - 15:25that's four people you're feeding
for $1.99, plus buns, whatever, -
15:25 - 15:29it's always cheaper to cook
at home, always, always. -
15:29 - 15:32And I think, also, knowing more
about food and where it comes from, -
15:32 - 15:34how it’s processed
-
15:34 - 15:36will inevitably make people
more responsible eaters. -
15:36 - 15:38They're going to start thinking,
-
15:38 - 15:41"How does this food choice
impact the environment? -
15:41 - 15:46Was this animal sustainably raised
and in concern for its own welfare?" -
15:46 - 15:48They'll start thinking
about things like food security. -
15:48 - 15:51By that I don't mean
poop poisoning the food supply, -
15:51 - 15:53I mean the access
that people have to food. -
15:53 - 15:56One of my favorite exercises
to do with my food class -
15:56 - 16:01is I have half the class go to
a supermarket right south of campus, -
16:01 - 16:05and another go to a supermarket uptown,
more affluent neighborhood. -
16:05 - 16:07The food is cheaper uptown.
-
16:07 - 16:09The further south you go,
the more expensive it gets. -
16:09 - 16:12The people who don't have
the money to spend pay more -
16:12 - 16:16because there's fewer supermarkets -
it's not as profitable, obviously. -
16:16 - 16:19That's a weird thing in this country.
-
16:20 - 16:24I think also when you start
cooking from ingredients, -
16:24 - 16:27you feel bad wasting food.
-
16:27 - 16:28By that I mean just an animal.
-
16:28 - 16:31Imagine you're buying
a big hunk of animal, -
16:31 - 16:32you feel kind of bad:
-
16:32 - 16:36this animal is giving its life for me,
and I'm tossing some of it in the trash. -
16:36 - 16:37You don't feel that way
-
16:37 - 16:40when you get an unidentifiable piece
of slab of meat in a plastic package. -
16:40 - 16:44That's not an animal,
that’s a piece of meat; -
16:44 - 16:46it doesn't come from anyone.
-
16:46 - 16:48I think it will make us
think more carefully -
16:48 - 16:51about what we eat, in better ways,
and not waste food. -
16:51 - 16:55Food waste is one of the biggest
problems in this country. -
16:55 - 16:58Most importantly,
I think food will taste better. -
16:58 - 17:00When people start trusting
their instincts in the kitchen, -
17:00 - 17:05it will not be laden with artificial
flavor enhancers and salt and sugar. -
17:05 - 17:07Food will start to taste
like itself again, -
17:07 - 17:08and I have to say,
-
17:08 - 17:13when people ask me where I live,
I say Central Valley, San Joaquin Valley. -
17:13 - 17:14The best thing about living here
-
17:14 - 17:19is unfathomably good produce,
fruits and vegetables, -
17:19 - 17:22great wine just north of town,
asparagus in the Delta - -
17:22 - 17:25I mean, the best thing
about living here is the food, -
17:25 - 17:27and yet people don't seem
to be so thrilled about it. -
17:27 - 17:30Let me tell you a very brief, quick story.
-
17:30 - 17:32Several years ago, it was announced
in the Stockton record -
17:32 - 17:35that we would be getting
our own Olive Garden. -
17:35 - 17:38This was a cause for celebration
because, of course, -
17:38 - 17:40it's an index of material prosperity.
-
17:40 - 17:42If they will open an Olive Garden
in town, everyone's happy. -
17:42 - 17:47And the Stockton Record reporter said,
"Will you say a couple of comments?" -
17:47 - 17:50and I said, "Well, I've only eaten
in an Olive Garden once or twice, -
17:50 - 17:53a long time ago, on the East Coast,
and it was deplorable! -
17:53 - 17:57It was absolutely disgusting,
vile, heinous filth!" -
17:57 - 18:00I said something like that,
I don't know ... -
18:00 - 18:03And the guy, of course, quoted me on that,
-
18:03 - 18:05and everyone in Stockton seems to,
-
18:05 - 18:09"How dare you? We love Olive Garden!
I take my grandpa there, and he loves it!" -
18:09 - 18:12And I was like, "Okay, do you know
how Olive Garden makes that food? -
18:12 - 18:14They don't go to Italy to train.
-
18:14 - 18:18They get a little package,
and they microwave it, serve it to you. -
18:18 - 18:21Sorry, they don't eat
greasy breadsticks in Italy, -
18:21 - 18:22they just don't do it."
-
18:23 - 18:26Even apart from that, the part
that this reporter did not mention -
18:26 - 18:30is that I said, "We have the best food
in the whole country, right here, -
18:30 - 18:33and people are going
to Olive Garden, that's pathetic!" -
18:33 - 18:34Another thing -
-
18:34 - 18:40I think cooking your food is going
to make you appreciate the seasons, -
18:40 - 18:41appreciate that
when something is good, -
18:41 - 18:43you eat it every day, you glut on it,
-
18:43 - 18:46and then you forget about it
for the rest of the year. -
18:46 - 18:48When you go into the supermarket
-
18:48 - 18:51and you see those sad,
pathetic fruits or tomatoes -
18:51 - 18:52that have been sitting on the shelf,
-
18:52 - 18:54they're not grown for flavor,
-
18:54 - 18:57they're grown so they can ship
and look nice when they arrive. -
18:57 - 19:00And people wonder, why don’t children
eat fruits and vegetables? -
19:00 - 19:04Well, they taste awful.
It's as simple as that! Right? -
19:04 - 19:05Have them seasonal.
-
19:05 - 19:09They should show up a month or so
in the summer and then disappear, -
19:09 - 19:11and I think that would be great.
-
19:11 - 19:14And in conclusion, let me just say
-
19:14 - 19:18that I think cooking from scratch,
and especially without recipes, -
19:18 - 19:21without the kind of trepidation
or fear that you're going to fail -
19:21 - 19:23and not impress people, who cares?
-
19:23 - 19:26I think the more people
get in the kitchen and have fun, -
19:26 - 19:28the better food will taste, in general,
-
19:28 - 19:31the more connected
people will be to their food, -
19:31 - 19:34and the more willing they will be
to spend time in the kitchen -
19:34 - 19:36and to share their food,
-
19:36 - 19:38and I have to say,
that I hope that the attitude -
19:38 - 19:41that somehow cooking
is not time well spent - -
19:41 - 19:44there are surveys that suggests
Americans don't think that - -
19:44 - 19:46I think it's completely erroneous.
-
19:46 - 19:48It's the best time you can possibly spend,
-
19:48 - 19:50fitting it into your working schedule -
-
19:50 - 19:51my God,
-
19:51 - 19:55if I think of all the time
getting my kids to one place or another - -
19:55 - 19:58but cooking is absolutely essential,
and without it, we would not exist. -
19:58 - 19:59Thank you.
-
19:59 - 20:01(Applause)
- Title:
- Why we don't cook anymore | Ken Albala | TEDxSanJoaquin
- Description:
-
Although we seem to spend lots of time devoted to cooking, as evidenced by all the cooking shows, magazines and classes that exist, Americans are actually cooking less than they used to. Ken Albala offers many reasons why we should get into the kitchen more.
Ken Albala is Professor of History at the University of the Pacific. He is the author or editor of 14 books on food including Eating Right in the Renaissance, Food in Early Modern Europe, Cooking in Europe 1250-1650, The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe, Beans: A History (winner of the 2008 International Association of Culinary Professionals Jane Grigson Award), and Pancake. He has also co-edited two works, The Business of Food and Human Cuisine, and two other edited collections are forthcoming this fall: Food and Faith and A Cultural History of Food: The Renaissance. Albala was also editor of three food series for Greenwood Press with 30 volumes in print and his 4-volume Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia was just published this summer. Albala is also co-editor of the journal Food Culture and Society and general editor of the new series AltaMira Studies in Food and Gastronomy, for which he has written a textbook entitled Three World Cuisines: Italy, China, Mexico which will appear in the spring of 2012. He is currently researching a history of theological controversies surrounding fasting in the Reformation Era, and has co-authored a cookbook for Penguin /Perigee entitled The Lost Art of Real Cooking, the sequel of which will appear next year and is entitled The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 20:08
Peter van de Ven approved English subtitles for Why we don't cook anymore | Ken Albala | TEDxSanJoaquin | ||
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Retired user edited English subtitles for Why we don't cook anymore | Ken Albala | TEDxSanJoaquin | ||
Retired user edited English subtitles for Why we don't cook anymore | Ken Albala | TEDxSanJoaquin | ||
Retired user edited English subtitles for Why we don't cook anymore | Ken Albala | TEDxSanJoaquin | ||
Retired user edited English subtitles for Why we don't cook anymore | Ken Albala | TEDxSanJoaquin |