Why I Cook
Cooking is a way to turn an ordinary day into a celebration; it binds us to the natural world around us even as we spin farther and farther away from our connection to the land. Sometimes cooking is a daily habit. Sometimes we look deeper and ponder how what we cook can define the way we live and what matters to us. I believe cooking could even influence the future of our planet.
I cook because a cook’s job is to imagine and make a meal out of nothing. Putting food on the table is hard, humbling, and crucial.
I cook because I never learned to draw, but love to create. I can make something with my hands that feeds people.
I cook because as an American cook there is something brand new to say about our colorful and intriguing foods; we are not bound by tradition.
I cook because I want to know the names of the vegetables I see in the garden, forest, and farm. Saying those names out loud is like pledging allegiance: Cherokee purple tomatoes; fairytale eggplant, hen of the woods mushrooms, spruce tips, or sumac.
I cook because we can already see the limitations of our food system on our lives. Our precious natural resources are endangered. The very land we plant is diminished. Our monotonous habits of eating the same foods limit us.
I cook because I’m optimistic enough to believe that with changing priorities, there could be no end to the abundance that our farms can produce. You have to cook it and eat it to save it.
I cook because I want our children to know what real food tastes like.
I cook because I want my kids to take pleasure in eating and being together around the table, even if I have to beg them to keep their noses out of their cellphones.
I cook because I want my daughters to recognize kohlrabi when they see it. I want them to know how good a truly fresh carrot can taste. I want my kids to know how to cook for themselves.
I cook because behind every chef there’s a showoff.
I cook because grandma’s recipes are lost. Or her index cards are a mess.
I cook because I can imagine a big picture implication of putting our American world in a bowl, not on a plate, not always meat you have to cut. A bowl is such a humble way to balance healthy combinations: the proportion of proteins and vegetables, higher quality grains, beans and rice.
I cook because I want to be part of setting the agenda of what we eat; I don’t want to accept conventional messages, advertised or hidden.
I cook because some people are too sick to cook for themselves. My work with God’s Love We Deliver lets me redefine and enlarge my role as a chef.
I cook because cooking is teaching; I actually believe that opening little children’s eyes to the pleasures of real food will help them make better choices as adults. Maybe even as our leaders.
I cook because once you know how a person eats, you better understand the world around them. The way people eat changes dramatically from country to country, while our needs as people are mostly the same.
I cook because I hear the voices of so many people from my life whispering to me: warning, teaching, questioning. Cooking is a direct link to everyone who has even been with me in a kitchen.
I cook because everybody needs a hug; a warm welcome away from the pressures of life. After all, I work for Danny Meyer, the guy who says we spend our lives searching for the three first gifts: direct eye contact, a loving hug, and some delicious food.
I cook because you just can’t eat what you put in your basket at the farmers market. Those ingredients need a transformation that depends on knowledge, skill, planning, investment, adventure, hopes, dreams, and sometimes tears.
I cook because I want to be part of the long tradition of people who have cooked before me. Who have begged me to “just taste this,” or “try that.”
I cook because I want to tell a story that is distinctive to the place where that meal happens.
I cook because we are here today. And we might not be here tomorrow.
This fall, Medium is exploring the future of food and what it means for us all. To get the latest and build on the conversation, you can follow Future of Food.
Michael Anthony‘s latest book, V is for Vegetables: Inspired Recipes & Techniques for Home Cooks From Artichokes to Zucchini (Little, Brown and Company), will publish on October 27, 2015.
It is available for purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local independent.
He is also the author of The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook (2013).
