Originally posted by snowdragon
We know people are eating more in the USA which means naturally someone somewhere is cooking for the fatties.I don't think cooking is becoming a lost art, maybe the discipline to not eat is an "art" we need to practice more of in the USA and apparently the UK.
Yes, the UK is on track to surpass the US. I can't remember, I posted a thread about it.
But the UK has NHS and they have started several programs to help. Likely, the UK will not surpass the US because they are taking steps with their UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE.
Do you use a pasta sauce or do you make your own pasta sauce
Do you make your own pasta from scratch like a chef
Do you make your own chocolate
Do you bake your own bread
Do you buy cake / pancake / muffin mix or do you buy the ingredients for it
Do you pickle your own vegetables or do you buy pickles
Do you grind your own spices and grind your own spice rub
Do you actually have time for all that?
The answer for most people is no.
There are dishes I know kids today have no idea of.
Their parents just don't got the time.
If I think of the meal prep my grandmother taught me
she even used to grind the grain for the stoneground flour she used in some dishes. My uncle told me of a special dish prepared for newlyweds (no one I know has had it in the last ... in a very long time.
There are some meat and vegetables in Europe especially which just dissappear from shelves (some of this is due to climate factors and some to restriction of movement on che... cost effective seasonal labour and some is the result of decades of unsustainable fishing and farming practices... in 2018 the UK went for about 4 months with no free range chicken or free range eggs being produced. No commercial poultry producers were allowed to let their birds outdoors, legally retailers and producers were allowed to keep using the free range product tag for about four months which was enough)
I used to get my beef from a slaughterhouse - waiting in line was a nightmare. It was mostly restauranteurs. (They opened at 5am and They closed Early)
Now I buy my meat from grocery stores ... the variety sucks. Didn't notice it as much before. I do now.
I'm seeing good quality unpolished unblanched plain wholegrain rice become harder to find.
In some grocery stores just ask if they have popping corn kernels ... after you're done being given a blank stare you may be directed to a range of salted, sugared or otherwise flavored popped corn and microwave oven popping corn products + 1 or maybe 2 different packs of seed.
Sometimes when people claim variety its just one thing
mycoprotein prepared as beef flavored mycoprotein, chicken flavoured mycoprotein, lamb flavoured mycoprotein or bacon is mycoprotein.
Same with soy protein products. You can consume it in a latte, as ice cream or yogurt, on a plate shaped like a chicken, in a rice husk sausage or a tasty burger ... its the same thing.
Originally posted by shiv
Do you use a pasta sauce or do you make your own pasta sauce
Make my own. The pre-made stuff is usually not that good. 👆
Tell anyone's nonna that you buy Ragu for your spaghetti and you'll get an ass chewing. You might even get slapped on the hand or back a few times, too.
Originally posted by shiv
Do you buy cake mix or do you actually buy the ingredients for it
Buy the ingredients for it. But this is splitting hairs. Do you make your own vegetable oil or do you purchase it? It requires far more to make your own vegetable oil than it does to make a cake from the ingredients.
Originally posted by shiv
Do you make your own pasta from scratch like a chef
Sure have and it's awesome and delicious.
Originally posted by shiv
Do you bake your own bread
Yes and I don't use a bread maker. I made a how-to video for making croissants. It takes about 4 hours the way I make them. They are delicious, though.
Originally posted by shiv
Do you make your own chocolate
No. Nor do I make my own cocoa powder, which is the much harder step. Nor has anyone for hundreds of years. You buy that from a specialist.
Originally posted by shiv
Do you pickle your own vegetables or do you buy pickles
I pickled them for over 10 years including growing them in a garden and raising them. Best pickled okra is still the okra that I grew myself and pickled.
Originally posted by shiv
Do you grind your own spices and grind your own spice rub
You do it when you grind peppercorns onto your food. And I assemble my own BBQ rubs.
Do you grow your own spices and pulverize them after dehydrating them?
Originally posted by shiv
Do you actually have time for all that?
Yes and no. I don't have time to grow stuff on cocoa farms or vegetable oil and processing farms.
Originally posted by shiv
The answer for most people is no.
According to the actual data, the answer is yes. Almost everyone is making their own food at home.
Originally posted by shiv
There are dishes I know kids today have no idea of.
That's true of literally every generation in human history. Your ancedote adds nothing.
Originally posted by shiv
Their parents just don't got the time.
That's not excuse. We live in the information age where we can find almost anything in seconds. Ignorance of food is not an excuse. Nor should it be required that parents teach their children obscure food stuff.
Originally posted by shiv
I'm seeing good quality unpolished unbalanced plain wholegrain rice become harder to find.
Sounds like you're just getting old and don't know how to use a computer. You can order a wider variety of foods, online, than you can buy at your local store. You have access to a larger variety of foods than ever before at amazing prices.
My favorite rice? Jasmine Rice from Thailand: a particular brand. It's the most fragrant of the rices and has a great flavor. The only place I can buy it is from places like Amazon. I buy 25lbs at a time. Lasts me a while.
Also, here's a photo of the layering on one of the batches of croissants I made:
Originally posted by shiv
Do you use a pasta sauce or do you make your own pasta sauceIn some grocery stores just ask if they have popping corn kernels ... after you're done being given a blank stare you may be directed to a range of salted, sugared or otherwise flavored popped corn and microwave oven popping corn and 1 maybe 2 different packs of seed.
Tomato sauce for pasta is one of the simplest things to make, takes slightly longer to cook than the 'in a jar' variety, of which you get far too much of TBH. Chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil and boom!
The supermarkets over here sell plain, raw kernels, most of the big stores even have a whole aisle dedicated to raw, natural ingredients. Not saying this is what you did but when looking for an unusual item I'll avoid asking a member of staff who is barely out of their teens, the older ones have more of a clue.
1.
Article by Krista Garcia Sep 25 2018 3 min read
Where are Shoppers Spending on Food?
Cooking at home vs. dining out
https://www.emarketer.com/content/where-are-shoppers-spending-on-food
'If increased frequency of dining at home is to be believed, that bodes well for the trend toward supermarkets offering more prepared foods, meal kits and dabbling in hybrid "grocerants."
US grocery executives surveyed by Progressive Grocer cited prepared foods as the most important brand enhancement for 2018. Meal prep stations were deemed much less important but still were favored by close to one-third.'
2.
2
U.S. Food Shopping Behavior - Statistics & Facts
https://www.statista.com/topics/1527/food-shopping-behavior/
3.
You might think that just about everybody is buying groceries online today, as retailers like Walmart, Kroger and Amazon race to perfect their delivery services and tout their abilities to get food to shoppers’ homes in under an hour. But that’s not exactly the case.
In the U.S., a mere 3 percent of grocery spending takes place online today.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/04/grocery-delivery-in-the-us-is-expected-to-explode.html
4.
Your croissant looks like a croissant ✅