Our country is clearly in a dire state when it comes to obesity and the environmental impact of factory farming, so the fact that more people care about food is terrific. But the kitchen’s always been a fraught place when it comes to gender and class, and the twenty-first century is shaping up to be no different. For some, the new cooking culture is incredibly empowering. Others are finding themselves tied up in apron strings all over again.
I too love that people are starting to care more about food, about where it comes from, how we can prepare it and share it with friends and family. But I have absolutely no desire to be part of a culture that shames people into doing and being things that are not life-giving or provides them with another way to feel insufficient. If you've just managed to rip off those apron strings after decades of kitchen monotony, then please, don't look back! In my opinion, the purpose of recognizing where our food comes from is so that we can be reconnected with the earth, the purpose of reclaiming cooking is so that we can revel in creativity and hospitality, the purpose of rediscovering whole foods is so that our bodies and our earth can be healthier. All of these things are meant to be life-giving, but that doesn't mean that all people who hold these particular values (and not everyone does) will desire or be able to live them out in the same way.
I meet people who most certainly care deeply about the foods that are eaten in their homes, and about the environment etc. but not all of them find digging in the dirt, or cooking in the kitchen to be life-giving. Gardening and cooking are first of all, skills that not everyone has (you can always learn, but let's face it, some people will always find that their plants die and their cakes flop), and second, they are activities that drain the life out of some people. Alicia adores digging in the dirt and watching things grow and I hate it. Let me be clear, I love the idea of gardening and harvest and growing things and being sustainable, but I just don't like to have dirty hands. I never have. But I love cooking (most days). I find it incredibly life-giving to pull fresh baked bread out of the oven or cook pots of nourishing soup, but I also know people for whom cooking a meal is akin to going to the dentist. What is life-giving for one, is simply not life-giving for another. If you love to cook or garden, great! If you'd love to learn, that's great too! If you want to run for the hills when someone hands you an apron, I'll find you a good pair of runners!
And whether you find these tasks life-giving or not, realistically we don't all have the time to do absolutely everything from scratch. Our ancestors didn't do everything "all natural" because they wanted to, but because they had to. They had to make choices about where their priorities lay and what could get done in a day given their reality and we have to do the same. If you have three kids and a full time job, then your choices are going to look mighty different than mine, as a single woman currently underemployed. Some people who really want to get in touch with where food comes from will sell their house, quit their job and start share-cropping on a farm somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Others might buy a good book for their kids and suggest a school field trip to a farm at their next parent/teacher meeting and still others might grow tomatoes in a pot on their 3 foot balcony. I for one love free-range chickens, but I have no yard, and I can't raise them in my bathroom. We have to make choices that grow out of our values as well as our current reality (which doesn't mean that you can't take risks or dream).
And another valuable point that Matchar makes is that the group that most largely supports movement towards this contemporary domesticity is the group that can choose to do so because they are part of the more privileged and/or educated middle-class (though certainly not all fall into this group). It is simply not financially feasible for every single person to follow the current trend of buying all organic, free-range, fair trade, local etc. These foods are expensive! Shopping at Superstore, Walmart or Kroger does not mean that one doesn't care about the environment, it may simply mean that's where one can afford to shop in order to put food on the table. And while some foods are actually cheaper when you do make them yourself (yogurt), they also take time and a bit of know-how. Again, each of us has to make purchasing choices based on both our values and our reality.
I love a lot of stuff that comes out of this more natural, sustainable, earthy movement. I love that there are children out there learning to grow things. I love that there are people pulling bread out of the oven for the first time with a sense of pride and accomplishment. I love that there are people being creative in the kitchen and thinking about new ways to care for our earth. But I don't love the judgement, or the guilt, or the shame that sometimes seems to get attached to these ideals. Valuing our health, our food, our planet, and our creativity is supposed to be life-giving and I don't want people to feel insufficient because they don't have the time or money or ability to live in the box this trend has created, even a sustainable eco-friendly one!
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