Cooked

I recently watched an episode of Cooked, on Netflix.

In this episode they highlighted the direct correlation between time spent in the kitchen and obesity.  The results were very clear: less time spent in the kitchen = more obesity.

As societies became more affluent, the idea of staying at home and cooking all day vanished. This was saved for special occasions, because, at the end of the day, you have a job, a life and better things to do.

To eat a home-cooked meal, you have to be able to spend time at home to cook it. If you’re working all day, how are you meant to do this? To eat a hand-cooked meal, you go to a restaurant. If you can’t afford this, what do you do? Even if you were to go out to eat, a salad is usually more expensive than a burger. Why then is good, nutritious food, the food of the rich?

Fast foods are cooked quicker, they are more pocket-friendly and they taste better, but, they come with a slew of problems. Losing the tradition of cooking, means that societies are losing their culture and their knowledge of themselves. Languages are being lost, along with the stories shared around the kitchen and the dinner table. They’re being replaced with processed, frozen TV dinners, reheated in a microwave and eaten in front of a screen. And we all know, fast foods, canned food, pre-cooked frozen foods, have more chemicals in them. Just read the labels. We have become so accustomed to the taste of poison, that we actively choose something we know is not good for us, over the healthier option.

Good food shouldn’t be a luxury, and it doesn’t have to be.

Your food doesn’t have to be a perfect, organic meal. It just has to be real.

Unfortunately, if we don’t take time for our wellness, we’ll have to make time for our illness.