“ Hey! Aren’t ya the FaNcY cOOK?” a woman at the market shouts out at me in a blast of nasal assertion as I wheel my cart full of groceries to the exit. I’ve dealt with her before and despite my best efforts, she GRATES on me, and she must grate on others too because she has this WAY of finding what pokes, and hides it as a pseudo compliment. Although, in her defence she uses her verbal obnoxiousness to support one good cause after another, so go figure? Fancy Cook! I snort as I make my way to the car, is that what I am? She meant, if she’d had the fancy vocabulary Gourmet Chef, another title I abhor, but people will put you in whatever little box they have handy, not bothering to notice if you’ll actually fit, or if your legs will scissor up stiff and asunder as a doll’s, from where they’ve tossed you in head first.
I like this quote from Marion Cunningham's The Fanny Farmer Cookbook “ There is a tendency nowadays to make a separation between an everyday cook and a so-called gourmet cook. And the simpler cook stands in awe. Unfortunately ‘gourmet’ has become synonymous with ‘fancy’ and it conjures up the kind of cook who gussies up dishes with rich sauces and goes in for fancy overworked food. We’d all be better off today if we admitted that there is really no such thing as ‘gourmet’ cooking there is simply good cooking. It takes more sophistication to know when to serve something simply in its own good juices and more cooking sense born out of experience to get perfect results” I have to stop writing now and go make breakfast. I’m trying out my ‘fancy’ new crepe pan that I bought myself as a early birthday present, very early. But, the batter is just made of good ol’ fashioned gf flour, eggs and milk. I laugh at myself, and have so much more to say about what it means, to me, to cook. Comments are closed.
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December 2017
AuthorHi I'm Sido Maroon, |