Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 76 posts

Re: 90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

#21

Post by spaginal »

pen2l wrote: post #10
AlexandrB wrote: post #2

This article is premature. There are many regions still either under partial lockdown or where people remain uneasy about going out. These trends may be interesting if they continue a year from now, but it's too early to tell.

I'd like to offer you my anecdote, suggesting this will have lasting effects: it forced me to learn cooking! My folks have commented on this a lot, I really stepped up my cooking game in this confinement. I've learned how to make a lot of pasta sauces, and how to do them _easily and quickly_, etc. The key was learning it well enough to become comfortable with it so that it doesn't loom as some esoteric activity which…

I’m a very proficient cook, but I’ve learned, with 3 young sons, work, stressful days, sometimes going out to eat is a Godsend.

I enjoy it when I can take a night off, where I can do nothing but play crossword puzzles with my kids while drinking a beer, waiting for a great meal, it is one of life’s simple and stress free joys.

Re: 90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

#22

Post by smoe »

pen2l wrote: post #10
AlexandrB wrote: post #2

This article is premature. There are many regions still either under partial lockdown or where people remain uneasy about going out. These trends may be interesting if they continue a year from now, but it's too early to tell.

I'd like to offer you my anecdote, suggesting this will have lasting effects: it forced me to learn cooking! My folks have commented on this a lot, I really stepped up my cooking game in this confinement. I've learned how to make a lot of pasta sauces, and how to do them _easily and quickly_, etc. The key was learning it well enough to become comfortable with it so that it doesn't loom as some esoteric activity which…

First days of quarantine, but it being clear that this is going to take a while (Living in Colombia, most of the world has already been hit at this point), I realized that this might well be the easiest time for the rest of my life to change habits because of just how influential your environment is on those.

But it could change as easily for the good as well as the bad.

Thus I made a very concentrated effort for the good even tough work was incredibly stressful at the time. Stopped smoking cold (after 15ish years), more physically active outdoors (also to deal with loneliness and confinement living alone far from family in a large city), daily, much more money/time effective and healthier cooking (I used to mostly only do very elaborate fancy dishes on weekends), more focus on hobbies like music and painting.

Personally it looks like the lock-down which is still ongoing almost 20 weeks in, will have a long lasting positive impact on my life. But unfortunately I also know a couple of people who went in the exact other direction.

So I think there will definitely be impact on society, but it is too early to tell whether overall positive, negative or neutral.

Re: 90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

#23

Post by nemo44x »

pen2l wrote: post #10
AlexandrB wrote: post #2

This article is premature. There are many regions still either under partial lockdown or where people remain uneasy about going out. These trends may be interesting if they continue a year from now, but it's too early to tell.

I'd like to offer you my anecdote, suggesting this will have lasting effects: it forced me to learn cooking! My folks have commented on this a lot, I really stepped up my cooking game in this confinement. I've learned how to make a lot of pasta sauces, and how to do them _easily and quickly_, etc. The key was learning it well enough to become comfortable with it so that it doesn't loom as some esoteric activity which…

That’s great. Iv’e been cooking often for about 6 years now and when you get to the point where you’re more about technique than trying to follow a recipe it’s great. You stop worrying about if something is done yet, you learn to improvise, and you get a feel for when to do things and what to add, etc.

Another nice side effect is you end up getting really good at making basic things quickly too. And you get an instinct for where you can cheat and when to do the work.

Re: 90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

#24

Post by rossdavidh »

"Covid-19 seems to have changed [x] for good" is not worth reading, for all values of x, until we have gotten to a post-pandemic environment. It's like saying, in the seconds or even days after a car crash, that the car crash has changed your driving styles for good. Wayyyyyy too early to say.

Re: 90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

#25

Post by mntmn »

pen2l wrote: post #19
mntmn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind to share some good pasta sauce ideas?

Of course! Marianara sauce: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015987-classic-marinara... You'd have to buy a san marazano can and spaghetti for this, a couple bucks each, and you can store each for quite a while. You can add meatballs in it if you're not a vegetarian. Pesto sauce: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/07/best-pesto-recip... You might balk at the idea of having fresh basil... I would argue it's…

Nice inspirations, thank you!

Re: 90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

#26

Post by ironchef »

pen2l wrote: post #19
mntmn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind to share some good pasta sauce ideas?

Of course! Marianara sauce: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015987-classic-marinara... You'd have to buy a san marazano can and spaghetti for this, a couple bucks each, and you can store each for quite a while. You can add meatballs in it if you're not a vegetarian. Pesto sauce: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/07/best-pesto-recip... You might balk at the idea of having fresh basil... I would argue it's…

Non basil pesto is also amazing. Some of my faves are with flat parsley (more spicy notes), ramps (not in season right now obvi), and mint pistachio

Re: 90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

#27

Post by NoOneNew »

rossdavidh wrote: post #24

"Covid-19 seems to have changed [x] for good" is not worth reading, for all values of x, until we have gotten to a post-pandemic environment. It's like saying, in the seconds or even days after a car crash, that the car crash has changed your driving styles for good. Wayyyyyy too early to say.

Yea, was going to say the same. I'm personally sick and tired of hearing "the new normal". No, it's temporary, get over the doomsday fetish. I swear this is worse than those hardcore preppers who pray for an apocalypse. Every person that goes, "the end is near" over every damn thing is literally the least or naively prepared person for such a thing. It's just a fetish developed by people unable to cope with any state of existence. They just think that if no one is doing well, then they're equal with everyone else.

Re: 90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

#28

Post by shrimpx »

rossdavidh wrote: post #24

"Covid-19 seems to have changed [x] for good" is not worth reading, for all values of x, until we have gotten to a post-pandemic environment. It's like saying, in the seconds or even days after a car crash, that the car crash has changed your driving styles for good. Wayyyyyy too early to say.

Also all those trends it shows are all approaching the old baseline.

Re: 90% economy, 120% gastronomy: Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

#29

Post by cmarschner »

mntmn wrote: post #14
pen2l wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to offer you my anecdote, suggesting this will have lasting effects: it forced me to learn cooking! My folks have commented on this a lot, I really stepped up my cooking game in this confinement. I've learned how to make a lot of pasta sauces, and how to do them _easily and quickly_, etc. The key was learning it well enough to become comfortable with it so that it doesn't loom as some esoteric activity which…

Mind to share some good pasta sauce ideas?

I know Italians won‘t like this, but... I use, for a can (400g) of tomatoes: chop a half onion, simmer in olive oil at low temp for 5-10 mins (“soffrito”), add heat, add sugar (2 tbsp, not if the tomatos are really sweet), let it caramelize a bit, add bayleaf and pimenta (allspice), add 0.1-0.2l red wine, reduce until it gets sticky, add tomatoes, stir well, put in 2-3 cloves of garlic, reduce by 20%, add salt, remove garlic, add a bit of oil. The balance of sweetness, acidity, saltiness, bitter notes (from the wine) and umami (from the tomatoes) together with the aromas from the wine, the oil and the spices never disappoints.
Post reply on HN