The Bitches are Cooking - Are You?

And we’re back…

The Bitch Stopped Cooking took a little hiatus from blogging. Sorry to keep you waiting. Maria’s challenge to not buy any food out was a hard act to follow! Hopefully you all enjoyed her posts. If you haven't read them, check them out starting here.

We here at TBSC have noticed a bit of irony in our cooking lives. Since starting this little business devoted to the culinary liberation of women, the three of us, all women (a.k.a. bitches), have actually begun to cook MORE! Isn’t this a business to support women who want to cook LESS? What we realized is that our actual purpose, what we really want to do, is get everyone back in the kitchen. Not just women. So, the bitch may not get to completely stop cooking, but hopefully we might help other people in the house begin their own adventure in the kitchen. We want everyone in there – the women, the men, the kids!

Looks like we’re not alone…

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto and recently published, Food Rules, was recently interviewed by The Huffington Post. The interview covered a variety of food related topics, such as sugar and high fructose corn syrup, going without meat from feed-lots, and most interesting to us at TBSC – men in the kitchen. Pollan says, “I think it's a big challenge to get men back into the kitchen. There is some evidence that with this generation of young people it’s happening to a greater extent -- the percentage of men who are cooking is up, and if we're going to rehabilitate cooking and recreate a culture of cooking in this country it's going to have to be shared, not just by husbands and wives, but by children as well. “ Yes, Michael, we agree!

Jamie Oliver, celebrity hunk-chef, is fully involved with his Food Revolution movement. He believes that America can beat its obesity problem and a huge component of the solution is, you guessed it, getting everyone back in the kitchen. In his Platform for Change: Why America Needs a Food Revolution – Now, he states that “we have lost cooking skills in the home. “ He continues, “Cooking skills give people a basic knowledge of food and help them make more informed decisions about what to eat. Without these skills, people have no choice but to eat fast food and processed meals.” One of his suggestions for how we, the public, can make a difference is “If you can cook, teach others. If you can’t cook, learn how.” There are so many resources out there for learning how to cook. Local adult education classes, your mother, your friend who is a chef, the neighbor down the street who is a killer (no pun intended) barbecue master. Ask them for tips. Hold a cooking class at your house. Cook together. With friends, with family. It's fun!

It’s exciting being a part of this “food revolution”. We didn’t start TBSC because of it, but we have happily discovered that our timing seems to be just right. We look forward to the future- to seeing the growth of cooking within families. Hopefully we will work ourselves out of a job and in the future the men will do the cooking. But, more importantly, hopefully we will all cook together. What’s next for you? What will you do this week to get yourself back in the kitchen or get someone you love in there with you? What will you learn? What will you teach?

Photo credit: Michael Pollan photo taken by Alia Malley. Check out her website.