“W e’re no longer looking to o th er cultures
to tell us w h at w e should be eating.
A t la s t w e
'ccognizc the goodness and value of the Americaniable.”
—CHEF SCOTT PEACOCK
As a food writer for
The New York Times,
it’s clear to me that we are cooking with more
enthusiasm and skill than ever before. Cooks
are placing a high value on food from their
own backyard and are seeking out recipes that
connect them to their families and their
regions and the earth.
No one really talks about being stuck in the
kitchen anymore. They’re happy to be there.
Cooks are using the best of the grocery store
and the farmer’s market, celebrating the glory
of ingredients like good-quality bacon, locally
grown apples, and artisan chocolate.
But this revolution is about more
than just what’s on the stove. we
have come to understand that food is a way to
build community In an era of fast-moving
digital communication, overhyped celebrity
culture, and a worldwide recession, the
tangible rhythms of the kitchen provide a
welcome tonic.
This is a conversation I have often with
my friends who cook. The chef Scott Peacock is
one of them. I sometimes call him when I am
spending an afternoon in the kitchen and need
a little help. He’ll patiently explain how to fold
egg whites into a cake batter or which spices to
rub into a piece of pork or why scraping the
seeds from summer squash will keep it from
turning to mush as it simmers.
“We don’t need to be chasing the hot new
ingredient or copying some fancy dish from a
restaurant,” he’ll tell me, marveling at the
renewed enthusiasm for good-quality home
cooking. “We’re coming to understand that
less is more, but the only reason that works is
because the ingredients are great.”
Consumers, even young cooks who are just
starting out, are willing to pay more for organic
food, quality produce, and meat that has been
raised on a farm they can point to on a map.
“People want to have some kind of a
connection to the product,” says Lynn
Dornblaser, who studies cooking trends for
the market research company Mintel. “They
can chat with the farmer that day, and it
becomes a story at a dinner party that night.”
In cities like Portland, Oregon, people are
as devoted to eggs from their backyard
chickens as they are to their barbecue grills.
In New York City, young cooks go in together
on the beef from a cow raised somewhere
upstate. College students are organizing
off-campus pig roasts instead of keg parties
and creating communal dorm dinners with
food from the farmer’s market.
Old-fashioned dishes, like scratch layer
cakes and perfect roast chicken, are enjoying a
revival. Regional food is celebrated, whether
tamales from East Los Angeles or chowder
from New England.
And in almost every community, a shopper
can find a farmer’s market. The Department
of Agriculture counts 4,800 of them, a number
that has doubled in the last decade.
Don’t think of this as the domain
of just the urban or the young.
Cooks everywhere are learning the difference
between a Sierra Beauty and a Gravenstein
apple and would rather prepare a homey
stew of grass-fed beef and local carrots
and potatoes than a beef bourguignon.
You can see it in the Colorado kitchen of
Laura and Kutcher Miller. They have a baby
and a toddler and a shared love for days that
end with easy meals built from local ingredi-
ents. They rely on meals that are fun and
inexpensive. One favorite is “garbage pizza.”
Flatbread or tortillas go onto the grill, topped
with leftovers from a roasted chicken or a pork
SEPTEMBER 2010 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
