Getting to know your food

             Do you know what you ate today?  More specifically do you know what went into it?  If it came from a fast food place or out of a box from your freezer I’ll bet the answer is no.  I’m not a foodie in the traditional sense, I’m not interested in spending hours in the kitchen in search of that perfect sauce and I don’t particularly care what wine goes with which meat.  I am more then happy with a handful of simple but well cooked meals on my weekly menu. 

            That said I have been pushing myself more and more over the past couple years to cook from scratch.  There are a number of reasons for this. 

            It’s (mostly) healthier for you.  You get rid of preservatives and artificial coulours.  It doesn’t have to survive for a couple weeks on the shelf before it makes it to your kitchen to be eaten a week latter.  Plus you know that there hasn’t been any extra sugar or salt added to make it “taste better.”  True you can make triple fudge brownies from scratch that aren’t particularly healthy.  But the point is it is entirely under your control. 

            It’s cheaper.  You’re not paying for things to be individually wrapped.  You’re not paying for some one else to do the cooking or processing.  More often then not you can buy your ingredients in bulk and save again. 

            You’ll learn to appreciate what is going into your body.  When you can name every ingredient in every dish that you’ve eaten that day you’ll appreciate the work that went into making it and will be less inclined to waste it.  In a world where people starve to death every day our corner of the world has come to view food as a luxury that can be wasted. 

            So I invite you to take one day this week and make a meal from scratch.  Sure it’ll take a bit longer but as you cook, and perhaps nibble along the way, you’ll get to know your food.  When you sit down to eat it, there will be much more satisfaction then if you had just heated something in the microwave and it’ll taste much better then what’s been sitting on a shelf for who knows how long.