Yesterday I was with my cousins who were visiting from Illinois, and their son, who lives in Cambridge. It was great to see them, and we went for lunch to a new place in the area between Porter Square and Harvard Square. We’ve all done lots of dining out, and the Cambridge resident and I are both cooks — good ones.
So there we were, catching up on family news and wanting to have a nice lunch, at a place that turned out to be…just barely mediocre. A wait-person who wasn’t well-informed or proactive about taking care of us was there, and we were served food that was …food.
As I contemplate what I’m making for dinner tonight at our house I’ve got grilled lamb with persillade, grilled vegetables with balsamic glaze, an orzo/wild rice/lentil pilaf, and a salad with feta, red onion, and fresh apricots on the menu. Plus homemade mint iced tea, and cupcakes with a dark chocolate buttercream for dessert. The cupcakes are from a box, the buttercream is not. Not bad. And not difficult, either.
So why is it that we seem to be moving toward culinary decline at such a clip? I see ads every day on TV and in the newspapers for chain establishments offering “nine entrees for $12.99” or “unlimited pasta” or “share an appetizer, get two entrees, share a dessert all for $19.99″…or whatever. And people are flocking to those places and spending money they don’t have or have scrabbled to make on a crummy meal. The sauces are full of corn syrup derivatives, the protiens are lousy, and the rest of the prep’s not so great either. And we pay.
Have we lost our way? What would Julia Child say? Or Ina Garten or Giada DiLaurentiis, current goddesses of easy, fine cuisine? I learned to cook from watching my grandmother and my mother. Then I added my own touches. I watched Julia on TV and said, “I bet I can do that.” And I screwed up occasionally, but mostly, I learned. I wonder if the ability to cook is going by the wayside. I remember being at the home of a friend of my daughter, when they were pre-schoolers. The child ate peanut butter and nutella sandwiches, and not much else. Dad, who had a good job, ate at Mickey D’s every day. What was up? Turned out neither parent knew how to cook, nor were they interested.
As garden season approaches and the locavores rev up, I know that other people can learn how to cook, too, by buying the local stuff that will soon be coming in to farmer’s markets or raising the stuff in our own gardens, and watching Ina on TV or picking up a cookbook and opening it. It ain’t that difficult.
More than that, I’m convinced that at the same time, we would learn something about using our money well. Long ago, I told my husband that I’d rather have really good roast beef less often and enjoy it. So I watch for the sales that come once or twice a year on prime rib, and when they hit ($4.99/lb, 3 days only) I buy and freeze. I watch the other supermarket sales and then riff off of those for our menu, or what’s in at the market or in my garden. It works, and it’s economical too.
I’ve been whacked by the economy, too. And I like to go out as much as anyone. I love fancy places, and I love dives…places that are really informal and have great local, cheap food. So my point is not about going for high-falutin’…I’m talking about quality. These are tough economic times, and we have to use what we have, sensibly and well. And that means no bad food, cheap.
Excellent post. I like the brevity of “No bad food, cheap.” It would fit well among Michael Pollan’s Food Rules.
You might like some of what Michael Ruhlman’s been saying about the topic: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-ruhlman/message-to-food-editors-w_b_555003.html
I thought about this post as I ate at Olive Garden last night. It will make me think as I get to the airport to fly back east tonight, and as I sit here eating my salad bar from our work cafeteria. I love your blog! It makes me think about stuff I might have overlooked before.
[…] share some of the recipes I’ve developed with others. Some of you have read my rant about bad food, cheap. What I enjoy is making good food, at reasonable prices, knowing that others appreciate […]