TV & Social Media.

During my externship I vividly remember watching our Chef handle social media; tweeting, posting, pinging, all other manner of -ing things, and answering fervent guest inquires about the source of seemingly every ingredient in addition to cooking and running the kitchen.

And here I was, a lowly extern who would subtly slink out of pictures I knew would be posted, mainly because I wasn’t comfortable with my image being plastered all over the internet…even if at times I may have been nothing more than a barely recognizable specter in the background.

It was an open kitchen but it wasn’t large, and sly as I fancied myself Chef had noticed my disappearing act.

Amidst a farm dinner we were catering where phones were once again capturing every detail, and I was once again playing my dodging game, he off-handedly commented to me, “you’re going to have to get past that.”

Resulting conversation aside, his message was clear: This is part of our job now.  

Part of our job.  Wow.  It was a simple and truthful sentiment, but one that changed my outlook on my future profoundly.  We couldn’t just cook anymore; it wasn’t just about the craft anymore; today it was also showmanship, woven not just into the cooking but every aspect.

The public now followed, and in a strange dichotomous schizophrenia so did I, expecting to see behind the curtain and be connected with the cooks.  We watch cooking shows, follow Chef tweets, post pics of foods, and twitterpate about who got chopped on Chopped and how we *totally* would have handled that ingredient differently…after we googled what it actually was.

According to our social media accounts we are currently more interested in food then, well, ever really.  Not from a sustenance standpoint but on a higher, almost elegant level.

So with all this publicity and food popularity, everyone is now also batshit crazy in love with cooking right?

Whoa wait, what?  Hold on, why doesn’t it feel that way?

The Disconnect. 

I’d say 8 times out of 10 when a conversation I’m having turns to cooking, frustration is the first emotion that presents itself.  Different people, different walks of life, same reaction.  Hmmmmm.

The fact of the matter is, we as a society have lost touch with how much time it truly takes to prepare food.  Yes in the past I’ve beat this point like a big slimy octopus on a hot flat rock, but it’s still not cogent and I’m partially to blame.  Let me tell you why.

Only recently have I begun to realize TV and social media are playing a significant, and relatively subversive, roll in this time disparity.

On the surface, these shows seem like a positive approach to food slathered in you-can-do-it kitchen attitudes…which simultaneously sucks us in and breaks down our defenses.

I’m guilty of having taken this approach when speaking to people about cooking as well, cheerleading food with a one-size-fits-all solution focusing on how easy a certain recipe or method is.

There are many shows out there that tout fresh meals made from scratch in less than “X” minutes.  Well gosh diggity, that sounds great, especially to a busy parent.  We glue ourselves to the screen and by golly that host did do it in the time allotted.  Instant credibility established.

We want them, need them, to be right because we don’t have time anymore for them not to be.

But then we go to execute, and if we’re lucky an hour later we’re almost done.  Maybe.  Or close enough that it’ll be edible.

*Sigh* what happened?  The TV person did it in X minutes, and when we eat out the cooks we watch can do it in less time than that.  The problem must lie with us, right?

That may sound silly written down but truly ask yourself how many times you’ve secretly felt that way, and then cemented another block into the wall growing between you and the kitchen.

Behind the Curtain:

Put down the trowel, you don’t need it.  Here’s why-

 1.  Those TV hosts have more than likely been to school, and have been cooking a long time.  Despite the image they project, they’re not your next door neighbor whippin’ up a dish in their home kitchen; most of these people have had years to practice knife skills and build familiarity with certain cooking methods.  They stage and rehearse those homey welcome-to-my-kitchen scenes, and get redos when they don’t go well.

It’s their J-O-B.

Really watch.  They aren’t stopping to read a recipe, calculate measurement conversions, wash dishes, or ensure small kids aren’t ingesting something that will require an ER visit to remove.

What they are doing is blowing through these recipes like they have cheat notes written on their forearms and barely getting them done in the time promised.  Cooking in a bubble sounds nice, but it isn’t very realistic.

2.  Even restaurants that make everything from scratch spend hours prepping and par-cooking ingredients to be ready for the dinner service.  Hours.  Sometimes the whole day, and days before; chopping, making sauces, lining up ingredients in little containers to be assembled at a moment’s notice when your ticket rings and your dish fires.

Don’t be shocked by this, the food is still uber fresh.  However don’t for a minute think it’s all prepped and cooked, from scratch, right there when you order…few, if any, restaurants could survive under that time constraint.

The industry knows this.  However the home cook has forgotten…and in a relentless comparison battle now thinks they’re a failure when they can’t do it as fast or efficiently.

3. Quick and Easy- It’s a Trap!   Ten points to anyone who just Admiral Ackbar’d the hell out of that.  Look can things be quick and easy?  Of course.  However the big X factor here is skill level, which is what cooking shows and recipes can’t take into account for you, personally.

This is the big area I’ve failed at in the past- pushing the ease of something instead of assessing the reality of current skill levels and finding active solutions that work within that construct.

In recipes and on shows, “Active time: 30 minutes” is a median wag, that’s it.

I don’t know about you but if I see anything else, anywhere, that says, “…just takes 10 minutes” I’m going to go find a fireplace and bust a bunch of delicate glass things in it.  I only have so many “just 10 minutes” in my day, and they’re woven together like a delicate and living tapestry.

When something like a recipe forces us to use more just 10 minutes segments than it advertised that’s seriously frustrating, because something else is getting sacrificed for that time; most likely the just 10 minutes to sit down for a second.

This promotes anger and resentment towards the thing that stole our just 10 minutes…resentment towards cooking 😦  That’s harsh, and hard to recover from in a society where we want everything faster and easier.

……….

I hate to say it, but with most things “quick and easy” simply doesn’t emerge without patience and practice; that’s not going to change regardless of how many apps we collect or gadgets we buy.

Cooking is no exception, even though every media source seems to be selling us a different story in the name of getting people more interested in food, eating healthier, whatever tagline is convenient today.

Is all this publicity and all these shows, the little blitz recipe deals on social media, all of it…is it really connecting us with our food, or pushing us away from it?

Reconnect with me in Part Two.