By Linda Shaffer
Most of the people I am friends with are from the “food is love” family. In fact, a lot of those folks are relatives of mine. I’ve always wondered if the love of preparing and cooking food has some kind of genetic basis. In my heart, I feel like it is probably so but I think the love of feeding people is basic in many of us. Not all. That’s OK. If you’d rather have take-out or reheat something frozen, I think that’s a great thing.
In this new world we live in, you can call in an order for just about anything edible and have it delivered to your home, piping hot and ready to eat. Of course, this depends on where you live. I happen to live in a place where delivery doesn’t happen. Unless I buy and talk a friend or family member to making the drive (they fly), I go to my fall-back position of saltine crackers and soft butter. If those are gone, I go to wheat crackers and Mexican sour cream. When those are gone, I eat boiled eggs. When the doctor recently asked why my cholesterol had skyrocketed, I forgot about this part. I didn’t tell about Cheetos either. I sure hope she doesn’t read this.
If you are in a take-out free zone, we are back to cooking. Of course, you can buy frozen and prepared foods with your groceries. As a label reader, this gives me the heebie-jeebies. The sodium counts on most of these things are scary. That’s the reason they taste so good. Just like the other stuff I like that is bad for me. The older we get, the more of our taste buds wear out. Unfortunately, they do not replace themselves. We are eventually left with a need for sweets. Those are the last buds to go. Bless their hearts. That’s why most of us have started craving sweets. Now you know.
The world is filled with Geezers who love to cook. It is a way to use time to their advantage, make others happy and keep involved in living an active life. Cooking and baking take time, research, effort, planning and desire. This is work. These things require passion. Passion is love. I rest my case but will admit to all of you that I hit a wall without my sous chef, Mr. S.
He was a master with a knife, making all the cuts I asked for. His pico de gallo was famous. The trick was in beating him to the sink to clean veggies. Cleaning food is not a strength for some folks. It’s all in timing. It was kind of like a well-oiled kitchen show … only different. No one ever died from our cooking but we had a hell of a good time making mistakes and good food and having fun sharing it in our kitchen. We ate healthy food in those days, which required a good quality of wine during preparation and consumption. Ah yes … the good old days.
So here we are in the new old days and there are a lot of us. Some are lucky enough to still be with a spouse, partner or family member. In addition to the daily routine, this might require special diets for illnesses or aging but it will keep you focused on cooking and change. Two things that are still good for us. Some of us are in the kitchen alone trying to restart their passion. I would say most of us still want to or enjoy cooking on some level but sometimes we can’t feel the love. Some of this is because these chores get harder to do. It’s not as easy for us to shop and prep food and prices of some foods can make choices more difficult. Just a few months ago I was able to cook for our home, my mom and a friend. That was easy. Cooking for myself? Not so much. I did open, heat and eat a can of chili two nights ago. An homage to Mr. S.
Lucky me. Into my kitchen lake of carbohydrates and fat, I have been thrown a giant, floating wooden spoon lifesaver by fellow Geezers. I read their recipes and antics on Facebook or text, or talk with them. They are my friends. They are cooking. Some are baking and sharing their goodies with people they love. Some are making crazy healthy soups that I can’t even imagine eating. Some are mixing a variety of canned goods to make gourmet meals. Some are making food for their dogs and their human friends. Yes, they keep them separated. My grannies taught me to cook with love. It is in my soul. My guess is that there are a lot of us who are like this. I guess we need to start loving ourselves and cooking accordingly!
Have a great week my friends!
