Quips and Quotes: On Cooking Real Food

"Fifty years ago George Orwell was struck by the "physical degeneracy" of the people about him. "Where are the monstrous men with chests like barrels and moustaches like the wings of eagles, who strode across my childhood gaze?" he demanded. Where are they indeed? I remember them, too, but it does not surprise me that they are not much in evidence today. For such men were not fed on fish fingers, ready-to-eat this and packeted that. They were reared on good beef, pork and mutton, fine fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, good bread and beer, and their food was properly prepared and cooked for them by skilled women.

"Undoubtedly there is much labor in the preparation of meals from fresh ingredients. To shell a bushel of peas, for example, takes a long while and you can do nothing else at the same time. But those of us who are privileged to live in a home where the ancient skills of preparing and cooking food are still carried out often wonder, as we contemplate another culinary delight, if the time saved by the "modern" housewife is really worth it. For, my God, what a world of difference there is in taste between the heated-up instant meal and the meal that is carefully prepared and cooked from fresh ingredients."

-- John Seymour, Forgotten Household Crafts