Back to the Microwave
How the sustainable-food movement drove one busy family to the frozen-food aisle.
By Sierra FilucciArticle Tools
- Sierra Filucci
- Living up to the slow-food dream can be demanding with a busy family.
It was the corn soup that did it.
We'd picked up a few perfect ears of white corn from the farmers' market that morning. I'd been eyeing a recipe in the latest Bon Appétit magazine. My husband agreed to keep the kids out of the kitchen for a bit while I pieced together the dish. Soon, I imagined, we would sit down to an early dinner of fresh corn soup — really the essence of late summer — and the kids would smile at each other, my husband would remark on my superb culinary skills, and we would all appreciate the glory that is farm fresh food and a home-cooked meal.
I sliced the kernels off the first ear. Nearly half fell onto the floor. Then I ground the remaining ears through a cheese grater. Milky residue dripped into my shoes. Navigating around my cramped little kitchen began to get more dangerous as the corn detritus on the floor made a slippery mess. I added the corn to steamed milk and poured half the mixture into my food processor. As I pushed down on the lever, a hot stream of corn milk splurted out the container's seam, drenching my shirt and nearly scalding my torso. My husband checked on me periodically, saying, "Why don't we just have spaghetti?"
After several more steps to the perfect corn soup, I strained the now-blended milky mixture through a fine sieve, leaving about four cups of faintly yellow fluid in a pot. It was a meager return on my investment. Sweaty, wet, dirty, and smelling of an Iowa farm field, I called the family together and ladled out the warm liquid into beautiful blue china bowls.
"I don't like soup!" was the first remark from my four-year-old daughter. The two-year-old took one look and shoved the bowl across the table, slopping some. He began to dance on his chair. My husband stayed quiet. He slurped a spoonful. Then he got up, went into the kitchen, and returned with three types of hot sauce, a bag of cilantro, some diced onions, and a stack of tortillas.
I sat glumly spooning lukewarm milkiness into my mouth. I tuned out the complaints whined by the kids and the eye-contact avoidance practiced by my husband and I entered a contemplative moment.
My problem is that I've been reading too many books. That's what got me into this mess in the first place. First, it was Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. That put an end to Happy Meals on road trips to Grandma's. Then it was The Omnivore's Dilemma. No more chewy Oroweat bread with high-fructose corn syrup. And finally, Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle banned the beloved banana, whose carbon footprint was just too large.
But while I was thinking about what kinds of foods are good for my kids' bodies and our Earth, my family was seeing less and less of me. Why? Because I was flailing around in the kitchen guiltily trying to slow-food my way to dinner before the kids had low-blood-sugar meltdowns and started doing backflips off the couch. I was not having any fun in the kitchen. While cooking was once a joy, and eating still is, having kids afoot puts a particular pressure on a chef to outdo even Rachael Ray's feats of speed-cooking. What I was learning was that Rachael Ray and Michael Pollan don't mix.
That's when it came to me: I'm not going to cook anymore. And like some rebellious housewife from the 1960s getting her first taste of feminism, I made an announcement.
"I'm on strike."
My strike progressed for a week, then two, then four, and my husband, Tony, stepped up valiantly. Among my friends, Tony is famous for his sensitivity and his rejection of stereotypical male attributes. He does most of the housecleaning, was a stay-at-home dad, likes to bake, and has always put my career ahead of his own. He was raised by a single mom and his grandmother, and he doesn't hesitate to call himself a feminist.
But he can't cook.
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What a wonderful article! It rings true for nearly all of us trying to parent (and cook) in the age of Slow Food.
Terrific article! This talks to the challenges we're trying to help solve with offering families another alternative - a local community restaurant that is quick, affordable, and comfortable while still using sustainable ingredients. Hope you'll check us out http://www.amandas.com
Eating well is not about long arduous meals. Glad you figured that out to some degree.I often steam some broccoli, throw some fish in the oven and have a fantastic meal faster than heating up some microwaved frozen food. There is balance. Good food is often simple. Can't imagine why you had such a hard time with getting corn off the cob, really? Slow food does not mandate that you grow all your own vegetables and make your own bread. Just eat real food, it is actually very simple
Obtaining and preparing food is neither difficult nor mysterious. Eating fresh, simple food from sustainable sources is easy, affordable and practical. I was seriously taken aback to read that you believe that you can't make your daughter zucchini or something like it every night. You don't have to make your own bread and pasta, raise your own eggs, or grow your own vegetables to do something better than travel-weary convenience foods. Just like we check the labels to make sure our foods don't have HFCS or trans fats, we can keep an eye on how local our foods are. Sourcing local, wholesome products in the Bay Area is easier to do here than anywhere else in the country. We have the opportunity to know our farmers, our butchers, our cheese mongers, and those relationships are invaluable sources of knowledge and components of community.
Part of eating sustainably is doing what is sustainable for your family - despite your interpretations, Michael Pollan's message is not an all-or-nothing mandate, and I don't think you're going to be banned admission to the next Slow Foods event if you are known to resort to the occasional Dr. Pepper or Lean Cuisine. However, as with most things in life, you have to be relatively organized and make strategic choices to make it work for you personally - so cook in batches over the weekend and freeze things or use it up over the week, dry some of that pasta when you do make it, order your vegetables and meat from a CSA to eliminate shopping trips, have a tomato canning party at the end of Summer, don't attempt to cook things beyond your skill or experience level when time is an issue, and teach the kids simple tasks like grating cheese or tearing up salad. When your schedule requires the convenience, go ahead and buy prepared foods - even, yes, a rotisserie chicken - from a local market, hit up your local restaurant or even a taco truck. These are acts that directly benefit people who live and work in our community without taking too much time out of a busy schedule.
Finally, a woman whose husband does most of the cleaning is not unfairly saddled with the burden of cooking. Sounds like a pretty fair divide, there. On behalf of my own mother, the single mom for whom the bag of salad was practically invented, I have to point out how good you've got it. You really have nothing to whine about, except that, like most people, you feel guilty and inadequate when compared to an ideal. None of us are perfect, but that is no excuse not to do your best and strive for better.
Loved this article, laughed out loud several times - I can relate to everything since I have two children under 4 and work. One issue not mentioned here is the financial issue: farmers' market prices are often much more expensive and therefore can be unaccessible for large families or families with large eaters (not necessarily overweight, tall athletic men eat a lot) who are struggling financially. Also, many people do not have the land or the money to buy pots and soil upfront to start their own gardens... but I enjoyed reading about and relating to your experience.
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