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Cooking and Eating Habits
Cooking and eating habits are changing to fit in with modern lifestyles. A dramatic increase in the number of working women, the consequential near-demise of the traditional housewife, and an increase in the number of single households all contribute to a seemingly insatiable demand for convenience food, but no longer, always, at the expense of quality. A gastronomic awakening has provoked food producers and retailers to introduce ready meals emulating meals offered in restaurants, with the necessity of preparing meals from `scratch', sometimes on meagre supplies, becoming all but non-existent. Busy lifestyles mean that, to a greater extent, we are increasingly becoming a nation of `grazers', wanting snacks that can be grabbed `on the go' rather than regularly sitting down to set meals with the family. Eating small meals frequently rather than, for example, skipping breakfast then overloading at lunchtime, may be better for our digestive systems, but a habit of lone-snacking does mean that the social interaction and enjoyment of communal eating are lost, and increases the likelihood of our eating to live rather than living to eat. Love him or hate him, chef Jamie Oliver, in his popular TV programmes, makes every effort to portray the social aspects of cooking and eating, but it is an uphill battle when so many regard eating merely as refuelling.
The fact that fewer people regularly eat family meals together means that opportunities to encourage children to eat adventurously and healthily are lost, and confining them to a diet of fast, often junk, food is contributing to an alarming incidence of obesity in children. Ideally they should eat with, and the same as, the rest of the family and be encouraged to help in the kitchen and with the shopping, to generate interest in good food. It does happen, of course, but perhaps not as frequently as it might to instil good habits that last a lifetime and be passed on to future generations.
Food production is a global industry and there are few seasonal limitations, but a wide choice is often accompanied by disappointing taste Ñ forced tomatoes and celery being prime examples. It seems that, as a nation, we are unwilling to pay premium prices for quality food. However, recent publicity surrounding some dubious practices in food production means, to some extent, that more people will realise that to eat good-quality, healthier, safe food, they will need to pay more for it, and shun the products of the intensive modern industrial agriculture that are exhausting the land.
A good diet makes us feel healthier, look better, have more energy and be more productive, and it is lamentable that seemingly so few accord it its just importance.
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