why i cook

over at the burp blog, prompted by a challenge from michael ruhlman, lori recently explored the reasons why she and paul cook, and it got me thinking as well.

this is an easy question, but not one with a single, uncomplicated answer.

when i was young, my parents had a huge, organic garden. it took a lot of work from everyone in the family to maintain it; something that my sisters and i resented often while pulling weeds in the hot sun. but we were always thrilled with such close access to perfect fruits and veggies. in the summer, we could walk down to the garden, pick a vegetable, and seconds later, be eating it for dinner. everyone has had that wonderfully sweet, perfectly ripe ear of corn from the farmer's market in august (or at least, i hope so), but it seems like much sweeter when it's eaten within 10 minutes of being picked. the hard work that goes into growing that ear of corn probably has something to do with it, too. eating sweet peas directly off the vine, still warm with sun; carrots nothing like what you'd get in the supermarket, too sweet and tender to believe (probably the reason shannon has such a deep love for carrots); gobbling green plums one after the other; peaches sweeter than candy; raspberries for dessert, eaten straight from the bush. sure, we hated the work, but we definitely appreciated the bounty.

and with that fresh food, cooking was just what we did. mom didn't often serve us frozen or pre-packaged food. so we, too, learned how to cook. i recall my first cooking revelation: making a fresh tomato sauce for pasta using tomatoes, onions, garlic, and basil from our garden. fresh, easy, and something i created.

once i moved out of the house, it wasn't until bryan and i started dating that i really started cooking again. bryan always cooked; having been a chef, it was something he continued to enjoy to do at home. he wooed me with fajita nights every thursday. once we moved in together, we began shopping at the dekalb farmer's market, spending obscene amounts of money on our groceries (hey, we lived with roomates and had cheap rent! and i like wine!). i entered a phase where i wanted to prepare the most complex meals i could, because it was fun, and delicious. i think bryan mostly humored me, knowing i would come around eventually.

and i did. the longer we cooked together, the more i learned (courtesy of bryan). i began to be able to appreciate ingredients for what they were. we were often asked why we cooked so much, and in addition to saying we enjoyed it, my response was, "we all have to eat, so it might as well be good."

i knew all along that it was healthier to prepare meals at home using fresh foods, and always leaned towards the natural/organic foods, but it wasn't really until a few years ago that i began researching more about how our agricultural system produces food. and what i learned scared me. the way produce is grown is NOT healthy. the way our meat is raised is NOT healthy. the way processed foods are produced is NOT healthy. all of this impacts the environment negatively, which in turn impacts our health. and this food, this industrial food, is BAD for us. all of it. a carrot is no longer just a carrot, folks. if more people did the research and learned what they were putting in their bodies, more people would revolt (and that's exactly what we need, but not what this post is about). having a small child and knowing that i did not want to put crap into his body absolutely affected the decision as well. it became imperative that we eat FOOD, only FOOD; food that is raised responsibly, with minimal impact to the environment. and food that is raised locally whenever possible. we radically changed our eating from there, by changing what we buy and who we buy it from. we made these commitments, and they became the driving force behind what and how we cooked.

we joined the c.s.a. with JenEhr farms; we joined a co-op for the rest of our grocery shopping. we got serious about our own garden. last year, we bought a pig and half a cow from Solar Harvest Farm. bryan began working weekends for the farm, and through the farmer's market, we began networking with local farmers (much to my squealy, giggling, schoolgirl delight).

food, cooking, eating has become a cause to me. and not a cause i am alone in, but one in which we need everyone to become educated on. i feel by buying the way we do, and eating what we eat, and supporting local farms in doing so, we are trying to save our world, literally. i am attempting to stave off some of the irrevocable changes industrial farming has on the environment, and the grave and undeniable impact to our health. make no mistake, it is critical. vote with your fork.

and in returning to the land, and locally so, i have again returned to the ingredients of my youth - fresh, simple, perfect foods that need nothing much to speak for themselves. and that became another goal: prepare these wonderful foods in simple ways that honor them. simple doesn't necessarily mean fast, either. simple can be time consuming. simple means with minimal handling, or with traditional handling; in a method which lets the food shine through. it is hard to take a bite of something so wonderful and not wish everyone was here eating what you were eating, because then, you just know, they could understand, and instead i end up feeling just a little sorry they are not. if i could find a way to stay home and cook all day, i would.

the honoring of the ingredients also takes on a slightly spiritual meaning for me, as well. food is my religion, that is also why i cook. and i challenge you to think of that as not blasphemous in any way! whatever god you do (or don't) believe in, i hope we can all agree that if this earth is our gift, if life is a gift, what better way can we honor that and be the protectors we're asked to be, than by taking care of the earth and ourselves? the best way we are care for the earth is to not poison it. first and foremost, we must not destroy it. industrial agriculture is doing just that, and it's a simple change to help make that stop. i'll say it again: vote with your fork. 3 times a day. our health, our happiness, everything else will come from this. i am not kidding when i call for revolt. only our growing voices will change the tide.

so i cook for a multitude of reasons. there is no one reason. and it's more than just eating, to me. it is part of everything, the very fabric of our earth, our health, our purpose on this earth. and i don't believe we're meant to lead joyless lives. i don't believe we're not meant to fully enjoy, in a carefree and thorough way, everything that is around us. but we have to do so in a responsible manner. responsibility and happiness are not mutually exclusive. they can coexist very happily. just come to my house for dinner, and i will show you.