How we view food
- Thread starter Chief Longwind Of The North
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
This is a very thought provoking thread for me. As I was reading I was thinking of when and how I became interested in food and I remembered the first meal I ever did on my own. I was young, but not exactly sure how old I was. I remember pushing a chair up to the stove and made some cafe bustello (expresso) and some scambled eggs and toast. I then proceeded to wake everyone to my creation. My mother freaked on me telling me what I had done was very dangerous. I think I had the bug since then always helping my mother prepare many meals and my favorites were the holiday meals in which there would be nothing clean left in the kitchen when we were done. I guess I am saying food/cooking has always been part of my life and can't really think of life without it. To me food/cooking is me. BTW any real g33k knows its spelled pr0n.
DramaQueen
Head Chef
I've been putting a lot of effort into my cooking for over 45 years and it just keeps getting better. I live alone and still cook every day for myself.
My friends have asked for years that I open my own restuarant. No way. Then it becomes and effort and will burn you out. I cook because I like to and want to, not because I have to.
buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
i kinda see both sides of the effort thing.
my 2 cents: when you are young, it's natural to give 110%, occasionally wasting some if not all of your effort. you need to find your limits, so the only way to know is to tip the balance. then run the other way.
all things are new and exciting.
when you get a little older, you learn to find the balance of effort and efficiency. it's then when you can really enjoy your experiences, living in the moment.
when you get much older, you learn to conserve effort, using your lifetime of experience to help guide you to the most enjoyment from the most efficient practices.
lol, so sayeth i.
and as far as food and love goes: when i learned that cooking well impressed women, that's when i really got into it. so, you could say that i learned to cook, for, well... you know....
love and companionship, gw!!! get your mind out of the gutter. (he hee!)
my 2 cents: when you are young, it's natural to give 110%, occasionally wasting some if not all of your effort. you need to find your limits, so the only way to know is to tip the balance. then run the other way.
all things are new and exciting.when you get a little older, you learn to find the balance of effort and efficiency. it's then when you can really enjoy your experiences, living in the moment.
when you get much older, you learn to conserve effort, using your lifetime of experience to help guide you to the most enjoyment from the most efficient practices.
lol, so sayeth i.
and as far as food and love goes: when i learned that cooking well impressed women, that's when i really got into it. so, you could say that i learned to cook, for, well... you know....
love and companionship, gw!!! get your mind out of the gutter. (he hee!)
OP
OP
Chief Longwind Of The North
Certified/Certifiable
By putting too much effort into it, I stated my thoughts improperly. I agree that whatever you do, you should do it to the best of your ability. But i do know of people who put so much emphasis into an enterprise, for example, a Thanksgiving meal, that they have created for themselves an impossible task and end up miserable for not achieving their own unrealistic goal. I also know a person, and this is not food related, but just as well could be, who loved fishing so much, that he ruined his marriage for putting all of his energies into fishing, and not giving his wife the attention she needed, and she wasn't a demanding wife.
There should be limits to everything we do. We have only so much time and energy, and resources available to us. We need to balance those in order to create a balanced life for ourselves. certainly their is time to prepare and enjoy a good meal. There is even time enough to spend a couple of days, if need be, to create something extraordinary once in a while. But food, just like any other activity, or material thing, or even emotional thing, can become an addiction that keeps us from maintaining good and healthy relationships, or from achieving other activities that really need doing. It can become a crutch to take us away from less desirable aspects of our lives.
I don't really think that many, if any of us suffers from such a problem. But I am sure that there are people out there who do. I would certainly rather spend time cooking a great meal than shoveling out the driveway after the plow dumps a load of heavy, frozen snow. But that driveway still needs to be shoveled, and so for that night, we'll just have to eat beans, so to speak.
So yes, too much emphasis can be placed on food, or any other activity that we enjoy, if it excludes time for responsibilities. That's what I was trying to say.
That being said, I belong to this site because I too enjoy the preparation and consumption of food, and see nothing wrong with that enjoyment. And I will continue to do so.
Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
There should be limits to everything we do. We have only so much time and energy, and resources available to us. We need to balance those in order to create a balanced life for ourselves. certainly their is time to prepare and enjoy a good meal. There is even time enough to spend a couple of days, if need be, to create something extraordinary once in a while. But food, just like any other activity, or material thing, or even emotional thing, can become an addiction that keeps us from maintaining good and healthy relationships, or from achieving other activities that really need doing. It can become a crutch to take us away from less desirable aspects of our lives.
I don't really think that many, if any of us suffers from such a problem. But I am sure that there are people out there who do. I would certainly rather spend time cooking a great meal than shoveling out the driveway after the plow dumps a load of heavy, frozen snow. But that driveway still needs to be shoveled, and so for that night, we'll just have to eat beans, so to speak.
So yes, too much emphasis can be placed on food, or any other activity that we enjoy, if it excludes time for responsibilities. That's what I was trying to say.
That being said, I belong to this site because I too enjoy the preparation and consumption of food, and see nothing wrong with that enjoyment. And I will continue to do so.
Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
DramaQueen
Head Chef
Goodweed: Thanks for clearing that up. I agree with what you say. Some people knock themselves out and stress out to the point of exhaustion and resentment at having to do so much work. I find that unnecessary and counter productive. Delegate to the others in family the jobs that are too hard or too time consuming to do at times like Thanksgiving. I know my friends are beyond stressed out because they try to do everything and everything they do is too hard on them. Resentment follows and they never get to enjoy the meal that they worked so hard to prepare. No one cares if you pies are perfect, no one cares if the gravy has a few lumps. Most families are grateful they didn't have to cook the meal themselves and wolf everything down.
I guess when I think about my statement about putting a lot of effort into my meals, I didn't realize that after all these years I really put very little effort into making any particular dish. Cooking has become second nature to me and I do most things automatically. B'S Girl is right, you can get burned out. When it becomes a chore then I stop.
I guess when I think about my statement about putting a lot of effort into my meals, I didn't realize that after all these years I really put very little effort into making any particular dish. Cooking has become second nature to me and I do most things automatically. B'S Girl is right, you can get burned out. When it becomes a chore then I stop.
