I know food bloggers who will agonise for hours working on recipes, carefully adjusting quantities. Performing taste test, after taste test to craft wonderful food. Then they’ll write it up with stunning pictures, that look like they’ve been styled for a cookbook. It’s a pretty hard slog at times. It reaps reward though, people like cooking, and are always after new things to try, or twists on classics. A well written food blog can get a global audience.
The recipe bit on this place gets a lot of Google love, people seem to like reading the weird veggie stuff I’ve knocked together. I’m not a food blogger though, I love eating, I love cooking. That’s as far as it goes, I don’t really have the time or inclination to work so hard for a post. I’ll cook something a few times, tweak it, take some photos, post it – done.
Generally though, the more you cook, the better you get.
You realise just how easy stuff can be to make from scratch. Take Pasta Sauce for example – kids generally like pasta with a bit of tomato sauce. In days gone by, I’d rustle some up for the kids, boil a bit of pasta, jar of Tesco pasta sauce – in less than 15 minutes, I’d have a meal they’d eat. After I met Miss A, she’d always rustle up pasta sauce for the kids from scratch – It always tasted good, but it seemed such a faff. Why cook something you can get out of a jar?
Don’t get me wrong – the fresh, homemade sauce tasted so much better, but the convenience of a jar was still a draw to me.
Then, when you actually LOOK at what goes into a jar of pasta sauce, and the ridiculous amounts of sugar and salt tucked away, it’s a bit off putting. I asked Miss A to teach me her recipe, and really it was bloody simple. Yes, it took time, but you see every single ingredient that goes into it – there’s no added sugar, or strange chemicals, it’s just good, fresh food. Since learning how it’s done, I’ve not even thought of picking up a jar. We’ve generally got a batch frozen and ready to go, or if not, the ingredients in the cupboards / fridge to make some.
By knowing how easy it is to make it myself – it’s hard to imagine ever ‘cheating’ again.
If you’ve got a food blog, these simple dishes should be at the forefront of it all. You should be advocating these healthy alternatives to jars, or packets. We’re becoming a convenience culture, and losing the art of cooking from scratch. Food bloggers and celebrity chefs should be leading the way in cutting out the crap. Showing everyone how these simple recipes can be quickly made, often cheaper and definitely healthier than the convenience counterparts.
It really irks me when I see a Food Blogger or Celebrity Chef, who has built up a great looking repertoire of recipes, whoring out convenience food. Everyone, seemingly has their price. Give enough money and you’ll get some recipes made with sugar laden sauce pushed out. Mask an advert as some ‘Roast Dinner Hacks’ to flog some frozen roast potatoes. It just cheapens their reputation. It’s not hard to make a pasta sauce, it’s even easier to make a roast potato. These ‘experts’ know this. They’ve built a foundation of cooking hearty, healthy food, to be swayed by money to sell shit copies to people who don’t know better.
Have some fucking integrity.
It’s not a ‘hack’ to use jars of pasta sauce, or frozen roast potatoes. It’s shit, and lazy.
Image from Plate of Wander
