I Agree with Baroness Jenkin ~ a bit!

I agree with Baroness Jenkin that “poor people do not know how to cook”...

... or at least quite a few of them don’t but I’d go further than the Baroness.  I don’t think all rich people know either, nor many of the middling sort of chaps and this is something I’ve been banging on about for some while.

Several years ago I remember some “fact” in the media stating that people (it didn't say how rich they were) can’t cook these days because my generation was the last to learn by watching their mothers do it. I sometimes watched my Mum and probably picked up a few ideas but for the most part I am self-taught and I have to say it was a piece of quite easy and I have written several blog posts on this very subject, such as ...

~   10 (+ 2)Commandments of Cooking Well
~   Do Yourself a Favour ~ Learn to Cook!
~   In Defense of Jamie Oliver! 

I am also trying in my very humble way to get some helpful info out there in the form of ebooks – this one is free, the others are just cheap - see them on Amazon for kindle versions or Smashwords for all sorts of formats including pdf.

Just Click Here

In an interview by Marks and Spencer, no less, I was asked what had been the inspiration behind my blog and writing. I knew the answer immediately – irritation.  I am amazed, discombobulated and yes, irritated by all the things people don’t know about food, eating, cooking, best before dates and so on.

I often joke that cooking is just cutting things up and making them hot. I realise there is a fair bit more to it than that but cooking really is not at all difficult. I am not suggesting that everyone should learn to cook like … I dunno … Heston Blumenthal or Ottolenghi (or me?!) but it would be time very well invested indeed to learn how to feed yourself quickly, easily, economically, deliciously and to your very own tastes.

I take on board that, as Jack Monroe points out, some homes don’t have cooking facilities other than a microwave and do sympathise (very much) with people in such a situation.  If it was me, though, I would put that microwave through its paces because you actually can cook some pretty good meals in them.  I haven’t written anything on this but lots of people have, a quick search on Amazon for “microwave cooking” revealed 3,221 results. There’s got to be some useful info there and, of course, you can get most of these books from the library so even if you are poor you can afford to read them.

As Baroness Jenkin also said ...

"Life is considerably cheaper if you are able to cook."

... to which I would add that it is also considerably more pleasant and more healthy.

In short, if you like yourself and want to make yourself healthy, happy and maybe a little richer – stop making excuses and get cooking! (Oops I hope I don’t have to resign after saying that!)

I am assembling a collection of useful articles to help with cooking in a Flipboard Magazine entitled "Learn to Cook"! (did you guess?)