Home cooking is back on the front burner
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One effect of the Great Recession that isn't all bad is that it has driven us back into our homes. Provided we still have homes.
First came the staycation, which allowed kids to drive parents crazy in their own yard instead of in the car (or in an airplane, where kids didn't have to limit themselves to their parents).
We stopped going out for vacations, then we stopped going out for entertainment -- the Netflix night having replaced the Blockbuster night -- and there are signs we're even cutting back on going out to eat. How can we give up driving to town, waiting 25 minutes for a table, boxing up the leftovers afterward and driving back home when we're too tired to cook?
In the nation that leads the world in restaurant spending, with 44 percent of our food dollars plunked down for meals prepared outside the home, we find ourselves reduced to exploring our own kitchens. The good news is they're likely to be beautiful, luxurious and pristine.
About a decade ago, when my mother was trying to sell the house I grew up in, her real estate agent told her the sticking point was the kitchen.
Mom cooked zillions of perfectly lovely meals in that kitchen. Everything was clean and in good working order.
"I know, it's silly," the agent said. "People want a fancy showplace kitchen now, with all the trendiest equipment.
"And they're not even going to cook in it."
No, back then they were going to stand around drinking wine in it while talking about buying a vacation home in Florida with no money down.
But now? A recent survey by the makers of Tabasco found that cooking was actually becoming hip among the 18- to 24-year-old demographic. That's almost unbelievable, considering that cooking is one of the few remaining things you can't do on a smart phone.
Because the survey was conducted for Tabasco, it also found that more than a third of young respondents consider hot sauce to be among the top three ingredients essential to home cooking.
First Published January 27, 2011 12:00 am
