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My daughter was angered by an article in the Globe and Mail today, and suggested I write a post about it. It was about the Canadian launch of Gordon Ramsay's new cookbook entitled Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food (2008, Key Porter Books).
According to the article, what makes the food so fast is this: You open a jar of "gourmet" sauce and pour it on whatever you are cooking, or you buy already roasted meat to put on top of your pasta. It seems is the in thing to do for readers of Nigella Lawsons' Nigella Express (2007, Hyperion), and Martha Stewart Living's Great Food Fast (2007, Clarkson Potter). Apparently, so says the article, "people will think you fussed and fussed." Well, I think people can tell a processed food over homemade anytime.
I can tell you I have made lots of easy, fast recipes that my guests have thought I fussed over, without opening a jar of sauce or buying ready-made ingredients. I remember years ago, when I was hosting a barbeque, and I was making chicken satay, I sent my husband off to the grocery store for ingredients. When he had trouble finding something, he asked a clerk who pointed to a jar of satay sauce and said, just buy that. He said he could, but it was pointless because I'd never serve it. He was right. That isn't to say I don't used canned items. I do, but I've used canned tomatoes when they are out of season, and canned beans and the like, just not ready-made food.
There are a number of things at issue here:
1. We have become so enamoured of celebrity chefs on television, and the difficult menus that they seem to effortlessly pull off while we watch their shows, that cooking seems scary and challenging. It's not.
2. We are being encouraged to consume products that are expensive, highly processed, and filled with chemical additives that we don't need or want in our diet. Read Michael Pollan.
3. As I pointed out in my post about eating out for my birthday, chefs use much more salt and fat than anyone needs. So do bottled sauces. Your food can still taste great without that.
Don't be fooled into thinking that you can't put an easy, quick meal on the table without resorting to pouring something ready-made out of a jar.
Difficulty level: Easy
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