The Trendiness of Cooking

The Trendiness of Cooking Why is cooking fashionable? Jennifer Rubell: I think that the rise of cooking -- maybe you can attribute it a little bit to television on cooking. But I would actually point more toward the explosion of consumerism and cooking as a real antidote to that. You are not involved in consumerist culture when you’re cooking, you’re producing something. So, those kinds of earthy pursuits, whether it’s gardening, cooking, do-it-yourself projects, I think that that will only be on -- the more things become virtual and unphysical, the more people need an outlet in the physical world. I think that’s a -- it’s almost like a law of matter. I think that most young people’s jobs involve staring at a computer screen all day. I mean that’s what most jobs boil down to today and you need something sensual to counterbalance that. You can’t just then go, reenter some sort of like consumer world and not have something that roots you to the earth, to other people, to a home, to community. You need it. It’s just mandatory. I think there’s real intimacy when you entertain at home. Once you have someone to your home, it’s almost like they’re a friend for life. You can run into them 15 years later and you still have a bond to them. They were at your house for dinner. I’ve gone out to dinner with people where I don’t remember their names or their faces, it’s like it never happened and I don’t know what happens when people enter your home. I don’t know what that process is but it’s a glue and there’s almost no other way that you can get that. Why are people still scared of cooking? Jennifer Rubell: If you look at cooking as a counterpoint to consumer culture, cooking offers none of the things that consumer culture offers. So, if you’re buying a Chanel bag then you’ve seen 300 ads about what a sexy glamorous woman you’re going to be because you’re wearing that bag and you’ve been sold an image of the person you are and all you need to do is pay for the item. When you’re cooking, you have been sold a bunch of broccoli. You’re not buying something that automatically gives you a role that you can occupy. You have to create that and build that for yourself. And I think that establishing and forging your own identity is an incredibly rewarding experience. And cooking is an incredibly easy way to do when you compare it to almost any other pursuit because there is tremendous and immediate gratification in cooking. So, I think that’s where people get a little bit freaked out because they do not know that they will automatically ascend to some wondrous, sexy, elegant, gorgeous place just because they put a decent meal on the table. In fact, they’re afraid they’re going to descend into sort of like some low class junky. They’re afraid that their actual roots are going to be revealed. Whereas, in the best circumstance, your actual roots are reveled and it feels great and everybody is excited to be included in that.