Cooking as a Spectator Sport

Last weekend, Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore's Dilemma, wrote a fascinating article in the New York Times magazine, about the decline of home cooking in the U.S., suggesting that most Americans are now happier to watch the Food Network than put together a meal themselves. This weekend, I'm proving him right, first by eating out at a great Brooklyn restaurant, and secondly, by going to see the movie which kicked off his article, Julie & Julia.

Thinking about this, I decided to count up the number of home-cooked evening meals I make for myself per week. On average, it's only three. Partly this is because I live in a city where eating out is practically obligatory, given the quantity, variety and sheer fabulosity of many of the restaurants in New York. So I'm usually out for dinner at least twice.

Then there's my Anthony's Pizza addiction. Once a week, I order their phenomenal brick oven pizza. First of all, it's delicious. Just as important, it's also the perfect therapy after a hard day at work, when the last thing you feel like doing is assembling dinner (or cleaning up afterwards).

So 3 home cooked meals, 2 meals out, and 1 pizza. That still leaves one night, right? That's my cheese, bread and a glass of wine night. And I really can't count slicing a baguette and smothering it with cheese from Grab Specialty Foods as a cooked dinner.

Cooking can be hugely satisfying; if you're cooking for any number of people larger than one and smaller than twelve, if you own a dishwasher and as long as the dish comes out right. But if any of those factors get knocked out, it can also feel like a chore. Making a traditional "meat & two veg" meal for one person feels like a hassle, when you have to dirty three pans, wait for 45 minutes, only to demolish the end product in less than 10. And cooking for a family gathering of 12 or more becomes something of a food production line, unless some serious forward planning is involved.

But I am moving to the nation's produce bowl, reader, so I need to up the ante. More than half of the nation's fruit, nuts and vegetables come from California. The state accounts for nearly the entire U.S. production of walnuts, almonds, nectarines, olives, dates, figs, pomegranates and persimmons. It leads the nation in the production of vegetables including lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, celery, cauliflower, carrots, lima beans and spinach and also apricots, grapes, lemons, strawberries, plums, prunes, peaches, cantaloupe, avocados and honeydew melons. Artichokes grow only miles from my front-door-to-be. And then there's the Gilroy Garlic festival (which, darn it, I just missed - it took place in July). Salad days.

With the best ingredients the nation has to offer, I think that the next few months will involve dusting off my cookbooks and trying out some new recipes. I'll have a little time on my hands, with no job to go to, and (hopefully) an appreciative audience. The tricky part will be keeping up the good work when I do eventually land that dream job.

Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely planning on checking out the restaurants that Santa Cruz and the Bay Area have to offer. In fact, I already have plans to visit the Bonny Doon Tasting Room & Cafe. But that experience, as well as the happy prospect of multiple, regular California wine tastings, is for a future post.