Mario Batali and Mark Bittman
While out shopping for a nice cheddar cheese a few days ago I stumbled upon the Food Talks with Kitchen Arts and Letters series hosted at the 92nd Street Y right around the corner from me.
Tonight Sam Sifton, National Editor of The New York Times emceed the discussion about Cooking Fast and Slow with ginger haired, orange croc (this man really loves his crocs) clad Mario Batali and NYTimes food columnist Mark Bittman. There was a big emphasis on home cooking and all the reasons why people in general don't cook as often. Both their new books entitled America - Farm to Table: Simple, Delicious Recipes Celebrating Local Farmers by Mario Batali and How to Cook Everything Fast: A Better Way to Cook Great Food by Mark Bittman are primarily focused on opening home cooks' minds to making easy, delicious food whenever you're at home in your kitchen. Everything they talked about makes sense from the point of view of the consumer. We have the power to make our own food choices. Buy more from farmer's markets and support smaller farms. With enough support their is a chance for us to change how industrial farming operates. We are all consumers no matter what level we are at in the food production chain. Here are some quotes and comments that I saved from the talk.
Mark: "Real ingredients have no ingredients. Real ingredients are in its own package and it is its own ingredient."
What's the single impediment for people cooking at home?
Mario: "Picking a recipe and going shopping for those ingredients instead of shopping for ingredients to make something."
Mark: "Fear and ignorance."
Mario: "An itinerary or roadmap." Makes sense. If you're comfortable and confident in the kitchen then all you need is a point of reference. Everything else should come naturally.
Mark: "A choreography." He talked about real home cooking as being a dance between prepping food on the cutting board, then cooking prepped food on the stove, waiting for the stove to actually cook the food then repeat until you have a finished meal.
Both Mario and Mark really emphasized the beauty and enjoyment they get from throwing together meals for their families as well as for themselves. We should do the same. There's absolutely no excuse for people not to cook at home. Educate yourself on what you're buying and eating. There's so much to try and explore. Most of all enjoy the process because you can always try again if you mess up.
I got a signed book from Mario and a book and kitchen towel from Mark(rather tasteless but it's free).
Bam! Cook Everything Fast! Whoa, relax you don't have to get all up in my face about it.
P.S. Mario: "Microwave = Science Sauna" Haha!!
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