*Just to clarify, I don’t mean cooking whilst wearing the season’s latest trends. But I should think that’s fairly obvious.
What I am referring to is the indomitable rise for some years now, of imaginative and inventive cooking within our great isle. From Jamie to Rachel Khoo to you there, reading the Guardian’s Ottolenghi recipes. We’re all bang on the cooking trend. Here’s why we should appreciate it:
1. The ‘Cave Man’ Effect
This one is for the ladies. Sorry if that sounds like the beginning of a girl power anthem, but please, bear with me. While the kitchen has traditionally been the domain of women, these days it’s hard to move for a man who isn’t experimenting with his food processor. Granted they’re not all whizzing up the French fancies of the Great British Bake Off, but building an outside pizza oven? Check. Aping Paul Hollywood (circa Bread, not GBBO), double check. Thankyou men. We’ll wash up.
Get. In. There.
2. The Fitties
I’ve already mentioned Paul Hollywood, and I’m going to do so again. No apologies. Personally, I’m not attracted to the baker’s strange combination of adolescent hair, perma-tan and constant scowl, but the masses (aka, the Daily Mail) have dubbed his show patisserie porn. Other heartthrobs include Nigella (obvs), Gizzi Erskine and the Fabulous Baker Brothers. Supermodels-cum-chefs – you’re not getting a mention.
Lorraine Pascal: Just get out
3. The Falling Cost of Eating Out
My mum loves to bemoan the ‘fact’ that in her day eating out was a rarity, whereas now we’re all at it 24/7. And while the proliferation of cheap restaurants selling quality food probably has something to do with this, I’m also reckoning on the cost of your average Jamie Oliver recipe. More often than not, by the time you’ve bought the bag of bay leaves (of which you’ll use one), smoked paprika, preserved lemons, obscure fish you’ve never heard of, ETC; you could have purchased and eaten a tasty burger at a shared table with a cocktail served in a jam jar, at least three times.
4. Discovering New Ways To Eat
As well as introducing your palate to the cuisines of Ethiopia, Timbuktu and the Scilly Isles, the foodie frenzy has shown us how to be uber resourceful. I’m talking jam jars as glasses; greaseproof paper instead of linen napkins; sporks (less trendy). After all, who doesn’t appreciate the healthy feeling you get when wiping your greasy hands with the scrap of kitchen roll that just graced your greasy lips?
(REASONS TO BE PISSED OFF: The perennial presence of Jamie Oliver and his whole family. Just who is buying Jools’s cookbook?)
Reasons to be Cheerful (and Pissed Off) 