By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind • Hacker News Board

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#21

Post by jvdongen » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:14 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #18

jvdongen wrote: post #2

I frequently read this kind of articles on the web, and every time I'm amazed by it. Preparing food yourself is the rule in my corner of the world (the Netherlands) - going out for dinner an exception. And up until a few years ago you'd be hard pressed to find a public place that actually served breakfast. Of course, not every Dutchmen is a great cook (to say the least ;-) but I think you'd have a hard time to find a…

Yes, absolutely. I live in France, I'm 40, and I don't think I've ever met anyone since I was born, who doesn't know how to do basic cooking. Over here people invite their friends for dinner all the time, and it would be beyond unacceptable to serve anything not prepared by the host/hostess. Reading the great Tony Bourdain I learned that what happened in the US happened after WWII; before that time the US was a prett…

Interesting data point - discussing this over dinner made us arrive at France as the only suspected exception in Europe, but apparently it's not.

Did Tony indicate what initiated the change?

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#22

Post by oiuytyuioiuy » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:19 PM UTC

araneae wrote: post #12

jvdongen wrote: post #2

I frequently read this kind of articles on the web, and every time I'm amazed by it. Preparing food yourself is the rule in my corner of the world (the Netherlands) - going out for dinner an exception. And up until a few years ago you'd be hard pressed to find a public place that actually served breakfast. Of course, not every Dutchmen is a great cook (to say the least ;-) but I think you'd have a hard time to find a…

I guess it's partially ignorance. For years I was making "instant" pudding, which was a packet combined with milk. It turns out that you can make homemade chocolate pudding with only one extra ingredient; cocoa powder, cornstarch, and milk. (A pinch of salt usually improves it, though.) I still buy rice pudding, though. I've tried making it and it always turns out awfully.

Stovetop rice pudding is easier than a can.

One cup arborio rice

3 cups milk (or one cup cream/half-half and 2 milk)

Teaspoon of vanilla if you like

Put in non-stick pan

Bring to boil

Turn down to lowest setting for 25mins

When it's done (depends how sticky you like it) Stir in a spoon of sugar and a spoon of butter if you're feeling decadent - or jam or maple syrup or whatever

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#23

Post by marze » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:22 PM UTC

The author leaves out one advantage of not eating out so much, cost.

It is difficult to spend more on ingredients for a home cooked meal than a nice restaurant meal would cost, and not hard to spend a lot less.

The downside is time, but the upside of is a fun cooking hobby.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#24

Post by techsupporter » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:24 PM UTC

orlandu63 wrote: post #16

dylan62 wrote: post #15

I eat lots of supermarket 'ready meals'. There seems to be an assumption that this is worse for my health that if I prepared and cooked the ingredients myself. Can someone point me to some concrete scientific evidence that that is true, or at least some convincing theories on why it might be true? (Ready meals are really convenient - if I'm going to motivate myself to give them up, I need some concrete evidence that…

Pre-made meals aren't intrinsically bad for you; it's the preservatives and other questionable ingredients (and quantity of) that the manufacturers may add that is detrimental to your health.

I believe the parent post is referring to the "Meals For Two" that some grocery stores are offering these days. In my area, two chains--Market Street and Central Market, for reference--have hot food restaurants/delis in the store. They use the same stock that is sold in the store and prepare lunch and dinner servings prior to the store opening and then throughout the day. Those are then packaged in containers, placed into a paper bag, stapled closed and put into a refrigerated display case.

Functionally, these are no different from preparing food at home. They are naturally more expensive than cooking the food yourself, but I can't tell a big difference. There are even services around here now that prepare, freeze, and deliver fresh-cooked meals from a nearby commercial kitchen on a weekly basis.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#25

Post by bambax » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:26 PM UTC

jvdongen wrote: post #21

bambax wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, absolutely. I live in France, I'm 40, and I don't think I've ever met anyone since I was born, who doesn't know how to do basic cooking. Over here people invite their friends for dinner all the time, and it would be beyond unacceptable to serve anything not prepared by the host/hostess. Reading the great Tony Bourdain I learned that what happened in the US happened after WWII; before that time the US was a prett…

Interesting data point - discussing this over dinner made us arrive at France as the only suspected exception in Europe, but apparently it's not. Did Tony indicate what initiated the change?

Exception in which way? The Germans seem to do a lot of cooking too, from what I know, as well as Spaniards or Italians.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#26

Post by spenrose » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:32 PM UTC

dylan62 wrote: post #15

I eat lots of supermarket 'ready meals'. There seems to be an assumption that this is worse for my health that if I prepared and cooked the ingredients myself. Can someone point me to some concrete scientific evidence that that is true, or at least some convincing theories on why it might be true? (Ready meals are really convenient - if I'm going to motivate myself to give them up, I need some concrete evidence that…

(1) Healthfulness of food is a continuum, not a boolean. (2) "Ready made" meals covers almost the full spectrum. (3) Achilles heel of the best (really, all) frozen meals (say, Gardenburger with side of broccoli, or vegetable-centric Amy's) is high sodium. (4) If you cook healthfully (say a reasonably faithful version of the Indian or Italian traditions), your meals will have a much better balance of nutrients and especially more micronutrients than the median frozen prepared meal. (5) Plain frozen vegetables (as opposed to frozen prepared dishes/"meals") are excellent food. (6) See Michael Pollan for more.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#27

Post by elptacek » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:33 PM UTC

We don't cook because our parents didn't. Prepackaged convenience foods have always been something of a status item. This whole "return to cooking" is something of an amusing rebellion to me, since it was something of a stigma in my childhood. If your parents had money, your lunch was filled with tasty items sealed in plastic from a factory.

I used to bake bread in my dorm kitchen. My floormates thought it astounding. This is how I learned that nobody's parents had taught them how to cook. As an only child of a single parent, the responsibility for the evening meal fell to me (as well as my own meals throughout the day). Eventually I set upon the family collection of cookbooks and was allowed to make pretty much anything. Even a recipe from a Campbell's Soup cookbook for oatmeal cookies containing a can of tomato soup (as disgusting as it sounds).

Perhaps it's worth noting that my kids generally prefer prepackaged foods over our cooking. So maybe it's a cyclical thing, in some subset of each generation. But I'm hoping that teaching them to cook will change that.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#28

Post by jvdongen » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:35 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #4

jvdongen wrote: post #2

I frequently read this kind of articles on the web, and every time I'm amazed by it. Preparing food yourself is the rule in my corner of the world (the Netherlands) - going out for dinner an exception. And up until a few years ago you'd be hard pressed to find a public place that actually served breakfast. Of course, not every Dutchmen is a great cook (to say the least ;-) but I think you'd have a hard time to find a…

"Having said that though, I feel that the situation is slowly changing in recent years" You have to be careful when comparing the US to the rest of the world, because the US is the one breaking the ground of new levels of relatively-well-distributed wealth. (Put aside the question of how well for a moment, please.) For instance, it turns out that the US did not have uniquely bad dietary habits around flour and sugar,…

That definitively plays a role I think. Though that does not explain why the "bad food" seems to have won. It is easy enough to make great tasting food with high quality ingredients. Granted, that would not be cheap - but then again, we don't buy iPhones because they're cheap either.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#29

Post by jvdongen » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:43 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #25

jvdongen wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting data point - discussing this over dinner made us arrive at France as the only suspected exception in Europe, but apparently it's not. Did Tony indicate what initiated the change?

Exception in which way? The Germans seem to do a lot of cooking too, from what I know, as well as Spaniards or Italians.

Exception in the way that we suspected that if there would be a european country where eating outdoors would be more common than a home cooked meal, it would be France.

But that was mostly based on observations during business trips to France - which most likely skewed our arguments quite a bit.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#30

Post by ry0ohki » Sat, Jan 01, 2011, 8:45 PM UTC

jvdongen wrote: post #2

I frequently read this kind of articles on the web, and every time I'm amazed by it. Preparing food yourself is the rule in my corner of the world (the Netherlands) - going out for dinner an exception. And up until a few years ago you'd be hard pressed to find a public place that actually served breakfast. Of course, not every Dutchmen is a great cook (to say the least ;-) but I think you'd have a hard time to find a…

Given the prices I see for eating out in Europe (I remember a chain pizza place in London was like 20 pounds for a single pizza), it's probably more out of necessity, we also have lost most of the cultural trappings of a slow meal.

In America there are tons of places offering instant meals for a dollar. Fine cuisine and the time honored art of dining (as they experience in France on every meal) is lost. Food is fuel, and you can get a salty, satisfying meal for only a few bucks here which leaves more time to go watch TV, play WoW etc...