The Trendiness of Cooking

Why is cooking fashionable?

Jennifer Rubell: I think that the rise of cooking -- maybe you can attribute it a little
bit to television on cooking. But I would actually point more
toward the explosion of consumerism and cooking as a real
antidote to that. You are not involved in consumerist culture when
you’re cooking, you’re producing something. So, those kinds of
earthy pursuits, whether it’s gardening, cooking, do-it-yourself
projects, I think that that will only be on -- the more things become
virtual and unphysical, the more people need an outlet in the
physical world. I think that’s a -- it’s almost like a law of matter.

I think that most young people’s jobs involve staring at a computer
screen all day. I mean that’s what most jobs boil down to today and
you need something sensual to counterbalance that. You can’t just
then go, reenter some sort of like consumer world and not have
something that roots you to the earth, to other people, to a home, to
community. You need it. It’s just mandatory.

I think there’s real intimacy when you entertain at home. Once you
have someone to your home, it’s almost like they’re a friend for
life. You can run into them 15 years later and you still have a bond
to them. They were at your house for dinner. I’ve gone out to
dinner with people where I don’t remember their names or their
faces, it’s like it never happened and I don’t know what happens
when people enter your home. I don’t know what that process is
but it’s a glue and there’s almost no other way that you can get
that.

Why are people still scared of cooking?

Jennifer Rubell: If you look at cooking as a counterpoint to consumer culture,
cooking offers none of the things that consumer culture offers. So,
if you’re buying a Chanel bag then you’ve seen 300 ads about what
a sexy glamorous woman you’re going to be because you’re
wearing that bag and you’ve been sold an image of the person you
are and all you need to do is pay for the item.

When you’re cooking, you have been sold a bunch of broccoli.
You’re not buying something that automatically gives you a role
that you can occupy. You have to create that and build that for
yourself. And I think that establishing and forging your own
identity is an incredibly rewarding experience. And cooking is an
incredibly easy way to do when you compare it to almost any other
pursuit because there is tremendous and immediate gratification in
cooking.

So, I think that’s where people get a little bit freaked out because
they do not know that they will automatically ascend to some
wondrous, sexy, elegant, gorgeous place just because they put a
decent meal on the table. In fact, they’re afraid they’re going to
descend into sort of like some low class junky. They’re afraid that
their actual roots are going to be revealed. Whereas, in the best
circumstance, your actual roots are reveled and it feels great and
everybody is excited to be included in that.