As far back as I can remember I have wanted to cook for people.I love it. I love every bit of it – the pots, the pans, the pointy things, playing with fire and, of course, food. When you think about how much our lives are affected by what we eat, when we eat and who we eat with, shouldn’t everyone love food?
Food is so easy to love. Too many people don’t get that and see food as energy or the enemy. The reason for this, I think, is that times have changed and time itself has changed. Think about it. Everything today is produced to go faster: computers, cards, phones, laptops….the drive thru window. These “advances” have changed our expectations of how long things should take, and how much effort we are willing to put into things, including food.
Then there’s the whole Chef thing. To raise their spot in the food chain and the prices on menus, Chef’s and restaurants have built the mystery and the legend of being a Chef. In the process, we have conditioned people to think that preparing a delicious meal requires bottomless knowledge of ingredients, combinations and techniques with fancy-schmancy French names.
As a result, cooking a great meal seems unattractive, unattainable and not fun for most people – even when they have a passion for great food. The time and effort it takes to think about what you want to eat, what you need to buy, how you’re going to prepare it….well…..it all seems very complicated.
But it doesn’t have to be.
That’s my philosophy. For the past 20-plus years, I’ve worked in all kinds of kitchens and cooked for all kinds of people, from my 13-year old son to Her Majesty the Queen of England.
Over the hundreds of thousands of meals I have prepared, my philosophy on food remains the same.
Good food does not have to be complicated. Good food, thoughtfully prepared can be delicious, exciting and fun.