Gunnar Fryzlewicz

Professor Miller

English 110, H2

15 October 2018

Out of the Frying Pan, and onto the Couch (draft 1)

            Since the dawn of time we, humans, have been eating food. As time moved on and with the creation of fire the ability to cook was created. Cooking our food added many health benefits like the absorption of more calories and the prevention of acquiring food related disease. Time progressed and up to late 1900s the setup of cooking in a household was very specific. The man was working, kids were playing and the woman was in the kitchen preparing the nights supper which was eaten with the family at the dining table. This changed as women started to enter the realm of working. This created a gap for cooking which was filled by eating out or buying processed meals for supper. This adaptation to eating premade meals and nights out was encouraged by television, especially the Food Network itself. Michael Pollan, a reporter for The New York Times Magazine who wrote about cooking in his piece Out of the Kitchen, onto the Couch, and many others find this change to be scary for the art of cooking. With more and more people deciding to eat out, and with the change in the meaning of cooking, where does the future of the homemade, family table setting dish stand? All this change lies in our hands, we define food. Through the ever evolving standpoint of cooking something will always remain static, and that is tradition and family memories. These family settings are the exact things that television and cooking networks are trying to get rid of.

A main reason for why we have had such a change in the household setting is due to the electronics we observe every day. Television was initially created as a way to provide information to those viewing it through news and weather channels. On one particular news channel a show about cooking was born and the star was a cook named Julia Childes. Julia Childes was a hard-working chief that was full of confidence. Pollan’s mother claimed that “for so many of us she took the fear out of cooking” (Pollan, 4). Julia showed that anyone could cook a gourmet dish; all the ingredients you needed to create a masterpiece were in your kitchen. You could prepare something worth of your family eating. She would also make mistakes but recover with positivity, like the way she did when she dropped a potato pancake after attempting to flip it. After flipping the incident of her flipping the pancake she say “When I flipped it, I didn’t have the courage to do it the way I should have. You can always pick it up. If you’re alone in the kitchen WHOOOO is going to see? The only way you learn to flip things is just to flip them” (Pollan, 5). She helped spark this change in cooking by helping show women that it is okay to put yourself out there. The only way to create change, or get good at cooking, is by doing it, no hesitation. She gave women the power of being proud in what they do.

Gunnar Fryzlewicz

Professor Miller

English 110, H2

29 October 2018

Out of the Frying Pan, and onto the Couch (Project 2, Draft 2)

            Since the dawn of time we, humans, have been eating food. As time moved on and with the creation of fire the ability to cook was created. Cooking our food added many health benefits like the absorption of more calories and the prevention of acquiring food related disease. Time progressed and up to late 1900s the setup of cooking in a household was very specific. The man was working, kids were playing and the woman was in the kitchen preparing the nights supper which was eaten with the family at the dining table. This changed as women started to enter the realm of working. This created a gap for cooking which was filled by eating out or buying processed meals for supper. This adaptation to eating premade meals and nights out was encouraged by television, especially the Food Network itself. Michael Pollan, a reporter for The New York Times Magazine who wrote about cooking in his piece Out of the Kitchen, onto the Couch, and many others find this change to be scary for the art of cooking. Pollan is right by saying that “these shows have become less about the production of high-end food than in its consumption”, and these shows can be generalized to the way people eat today. Yet, through the ever evolving standpoint of cooking something will always remain static, and that is tradition and family memories. The family cooking setting is the exact things that television and cooking networks are trying to get rid of.

A main reason for why we have had such a change in the household cooking setting is due to the television we observe every day. It has changed from being something that will inform  and develop On one particular news channel a show about cooking was born and the star was a cook named Julia Childs. Julia Childs was a hard-working chief that was full of passion for what she did and she made it a point to spread that passion to her viewers “for so many of us she took the fear out of cooking…. [Julia’s cooking] was a kind of courage -not only to cook but to cook the world’s most glamorous and intimidating cuisine-that Julia Child gave my mother and so many other women like her, and to watch her empower viewers in episodes after episode is to appreciate just how much about cooking on television -not to mention cooking itself- has changed in the years since “The French Chef” was on air” (Pollan 5). Compare this view of how cooking used to be viewed with how it is viewed today. From Pollan talking about the Food Network today; “We learn things watching these cooking competitions, but they’re not things about how to cook. There are no recipes to follow; the contest fly’s by too fast for viewers to take in any practical tips; and the kind of cooking practiced in prime time is far more spectacular than anyone would ever try at home. No, for anyone hoping to pick up a few dinnertime tips, the implicit message of today’s prime-time cooking show is, Don’t try this at home” (Pollan 9).

Julia Childs showed cooking as this self-gratifying activity that one could take pride in doing. An activity where you can learn and create new techniques and recipes. That was how cooking was viewed, as an educational field. Now, with television shows speeding things up, using processed or pre-prepared foods, and doing as little as possible to entice the viewer to create the view on cooking has changed. Cooking has changed from something where you learn proper proportions to something where you throw stuff on a grill and see how high the flames go. Cooking is turning from an idea that anyone can cook, Julia Child empowering people to cook and try new things, to you cannot cook unless you can handle flames and only function in the kitchen with pre-measured ingredients. Cooking was once viewed as a process that took technique and skill. Today, television has cooking as a sport where you can only make something good with pre-measured ingredients and should be better left to the professional. Although, many people today see cooking this way, any still do cook for the memory and coming together of family.

Throughout history cooking has evolved and changed to our needs. However, the thing that has remained constant is the coming together of families for family tradition and holidays. Throughout the week many families chose to eat out or cook something pre-made in order to save time for work or other activities, but they always come together for those special meals. We all hold a certain meal close to our hearts

Gunnar Fryzlewicz

Professor Miller

English 110, H2

31 October 2018

Out of the Frying Pan, and onto the Couch (Final draft)

            Since the dawn of time we, humans, have been cooking food. Cooking our food added many health benefits like the absorption of more calories and the prevention of acquiring food related disease. Time progressed and up to late 1900s the setup of cooking in a household was very specific. The man worked, kids played and the woman cooked. This changed as women started to enter the realm of working. This created a gap for cooking which was filled by eating out or buying processed meals for supper. This adaptation to eating premade meals and nights out was encouraged by television, especially the Food Network itself. Michael Pollan, a reporter for The New York Times Magazine who wrote about cooking in his piece Out of the Kitchen, onto the Couch, and many of my peers through their Favorite Meal Essays find this change to be scary for the art of cooking. Cooking has aided in the formation of humanity, however it is constantly changing, and recently it seems to be changing for the worse. However, through the ever evolving standpoint of cooking, something will always remain static and that is tradition and family memories. The family cooking setting is the exact things that television and cooking networks are trying to get rid of.

Homestyle cooking, there’s nothing else like it.  With a loved one spending time cooking something unique and wonderful just so they can see the expression on your face light up with excitement and content. These home meals are an excellent representation of real cooking. A peer, Prakash Patel, from last year’s fall semester writes about how his mother made Manchurian in his paper Expand Your Palate, and the detail she put into preparing the dish. “After mixing these ingredients, she makes them into a ball – about the size of a ping-pong ball. My mom, so engrossed in cooking, becomes attentive to every detail. If one small mistake were to happen, she would know in an instant. She boils the Manchurian and takes them out of the pan after it resonates a dark golden brown color….An internal clock alerts my mom that the Manchurian is boiled. She takes them out and puts them into the small pot. After 4-5 minutes, the Manchurian is taken out of the small pot and is ready to be served. ” (Prakash). Compare this style of cooking to how cooking is described today in Michael Pollan’s piece, Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch. From Pollan talking about the Food Network today; “We learn things watching these cooking competitions, but they’re not things about how to cook. There are no recipes to follow; the contest fly’s by too fast for viewers to take in any practical tips; and the kind of cooking practiced in prime time is far more spectacular than anyone would ever try at home. No, for anyone hoping to pick up a few dinnertime tips, the implicit message of today’s prime-time cooking show is, Don’t try this at home” (Pollan 9).

The comparison between the way Prakash’s mother prepared a dish to how chefs on television prepare dishes are very different. Prakash’s mother represents the way cooking used to be with care and time being put into a dish. His mother did not get to be this good at preparing the dish without spending time perfecting and learning its outcomes, the dish was learned an d taught to her. Television today shows meals as some thing that can be created with little preparation and within a minimal amount of time. Cooking has changed from something where you learn proper proportions to an activity where you throw food on a grill and see how high the flames go. Cooking was once viewed as a process that took technique and skill. Today, television has cooking as a sport where you can only make something good with premeasured ingredients and should be better left to the professional. Although, cooking today is viewed as something rushed, many people still take the time to cook to enjoy family.

Even though home cooking is having less of a daily value in our lives, we still make it a point to sit down and eat things that hold a deeper meaning to us. Many people can barely remember what they ate for lunch at the beginning of the week, many of the meals we eat old little meaning other than something you eat because you’re hungry. However, people remember the last time their wife, mother, father, grandparent made their famous meatloaf or Sunday cookies. Connor Sirois writes about his grandmother’s cookies in his Favorite Meal Essay. “My grandma recently passed away from brain cancer, but the cookies are a way of remembering her. While the cookies only make up miniscule part of our lives, they stand for the bonds our family has created, and now passed on through generations…. After I finished interviewing my mom about her thoughts about the family-famous cookies, there was one thing she said that I thought would perfect wrap up just how much these cookies represent for not only me, but my family. When I asked her what the cookies meant to her, she replied “I believe they bring you and dad happiness. Every time I make them, you two smile inside and out, and I know it brings our family closer”. Whether it’s my mother or grandmother, these homemade cookies hold value far greater than their flavor” (Sirois). These cookies, and the meaning behind cooking them hold a deep meaning in Connor’s family.

This meaning is also present in Ruddy Paulino’s paper, My Favorite Food, where he talks about his grandmother’s rice and beans. “This meal also brings back memories of when I was still a kid doing fun things like playing soccer, or playing basketball with my cousins or even just hanging with my family. Rice and beans are essential to our family because not only did we get well-cooked food but it would also bring the family together for a few hours. Where we could have wonderful conversations about our lives and talk about how blessed we all were to be sharing this meal as a family. Rice and beans brought around a lot of enjoyment to life, it also brought the family together and then showed what culture I grew up in as a child” (Paulino). Both these meals show that cooking holds more value than just something humans do to obtain energy. For both Connor and Ruddy these meals bring positive memories and reminds them of home and family. Both of them will continue to cook these meals because they represent something more than an energy fix. Television shows may be depreciating cooking and causing people to be more fixed on eating out and buying premade foods, but the memory behind family foods will drive people to cook. Food Network, Iron Chef and the automated whipping machine will not replace the memories of grandma making beans and rice or mom making Sunday cookie. Cooking brings a comfort that ill no die with time. However, time has showed that cooking has transformed us.

Cooking throughout the ages has aided in the evolution in mankind. This evolution has allowed us to direct more of our time and energy to create a culture. In a way cooking has civilized us. Pollan talks about how cooking has cultured and formed us today in his piece Out of The Kitchen, Onto the Couch. Pollan says that, “Cooking gave us not just the meal but also the occasion: the practice of eating together at an appointed time and place. This was something new under the sun, for the forager of raw food would likely have fed himself on the go and alone, like the animals. (Or, come to think of it, like the industrial eaters we’ve become, grazing at gas stations and skipping meals.) But sitting down to common meals, making eye contact, sharing food, all served to civilize us; “around that fire,” Wrangham says, “we became tamer”” (Pollan, 17). Cooking caused us to socialize and form bonds with the meal being made and with the people the meal is made for. This is shown in a peers essay, Can You Pasta Sauce Please? by Melissa Stein, where she talks about her family gathering for a meal. “We all sit down and await the delicious, mouthwatering food that’s been specially handcrafted for us. It’s the little things in life that we need to be grateful for. The hard work and love that goes into every second of a meal really pays off in the end result. It’s traditions like these that bring our family close. We are able to bond with each other as well as over food” (Stein).

This unity of family shows that cooking brought people together, furthering our connection to civility. Through bringing people together, our ability to communicate with others  in a clear manner helped differentiates us from animals by developing our ability to form ideas and discussions. Cooking might have been the cause of the sharpening of our minds by allowing us to consume foods with high energy, which fueled our brains production. This energy formed our brains and brought us our identity as intelligent and put together beings. Cooking draws people together for conversation and discussion, developing our minds, while enjoying a delicious meal. It is a defining factor in our development as an intelligent race.

The idea of cooking has changed just as much as the human population has changed over the centuries. It started as a way of acquiring more energy for the human body to use towards gaining an intelligence and forming social bonds with others. Then it evolved into a way of remembering loved ones and creating a fond memory with those you love. However today, many see it as a form of entertainment best watched with a premade meal. Some still see it as a means of connection to the past and to those around you, but that number is dwindling. If you see that these changes as bad then do something about it. Make it a point to teach your children how to cook, so that they may pass on that knowledge and further the tradition of cooking. Do this so that it may not die and the form of creation and art that is cooking may live on through the generations as something more than entertainment. Have it remain as a way to remember loved ones and as a form of expression. The death of cooking lies in the hands of the generations to come.

Works Cited

Pollan, Michael. “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 July 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html.

Paulino, Ruddy. “My Favorite Food.” uneportfolio, 8 Sept. 2018, www.rlandrypaulino.uneportfolio.org/favorite-food-essay/. Accessed 20 October 2018.

Sirois, Connor. “Favorite Meal Essay.” uneportfolio, 8 Sept. 2018, www.csirois51.uneportfolio.org/food-for-thought/. Accessed 20 October 2018.

Prakash, Patel. “Expand your Palate.” uneportfolio, 4 Oct. 2017, www.ppatel18.uneportfolio.org/food-for-thought/. Accessed 22 October 2018.

Stein, Melissa. “Can You Pasta Sauce Please?.” uneportfolio, 8 Sept. 2018, www.mstein2.uneportfolio.org/food-for-thought/. Accessed October 24 2018.