What I mean when I say cooking is easy

A love letter from my kitchen to yours.

I am a self-taught cook. Lately, I am blossoming in full force into my culinary abilities. As I write this, the lingering aroma of the chicken bone and vegetable scrap broth that simmered eight hours in the slow cooker fills my home. All I seem to think about these days is cooking. I am excited to make my weekly grocery list and go to sleep thinking about what kind of creations I would like to bring to life. My best culinary ideas actually come to me when I lay in between the waking and dreaming state.

Sometimes, I wonder, do people ever get tired of hearing me talk about farmers market runs, what recipe I’ll make next? Do they want to hear my thoughts on how produce really does taste differently between a farmers’ market and a chain grocer? Am I just a spoiled rich girl with expensive taste or is there really something to the mindfulness of eating local versus mass produced? I’m not sure, but one thing I have noticed is that I am often met with awe and bewilderment, astonishment that I can make a pie crust by hand, that I shop at farmers markets weekly, that I have conquered a whole, raw chicken, that I even find a sense of beauty in it, or that I have tamed yeast into a fluffy, edible dough.

The disconnection between humans and our food in the modern era has been widely discussed and debated. I sense it deeply when people react in this way. Why shop at a farmers’ market when you can go to the grocery store anytime? That sounds like fun, but I don’t go because I forget, I don’t have time, and it’s too expensive. Why cook a whole bird when the grocery store rotisserie chickens are so good? I hate touching raw meat. Why make that when you can buy it already made and frozen? I get it, and I am no stranger to a frozen pizza or takeout. Trust me when I say that I have come a long way in my culinary journey, that this is all brand new to me, too. But within the inches of trust I have given myself to imagine, to create, I have gone miles as a home cook, and I am quite impressed with myself!

But within all of these conversations, these musings I share with others about my love for cooking, my commitment and passion for locally sourced produce (even while paying a much higher price for them), my inspiration for making dishes from scratch, I find myself saying, “it’s surprisingly easy!” And at first, I kept wondering if there was some hidden elitism in that sentiment. Was my privilege seeping into my everyday language and was I misinforming people about the joys of cooking?

Then suddenly, it hit me: we have, collectively, been misinformed by “Big Food” to think that these tasks are difficult so that we will buy their products instead of making them ourselves. In doing so, people become more disconnected from their food, the foods they dream of eating, and disconnected from their power, their creative ability. Suddenly, we are in an era where the most extreme examples of this are children who don’t understand that fruits and vegetables grow in fields, or that their nuggets come from living animals. People count themselves out from making their favorite foods before they even give themselves a chance to prove the self-doubt wrong.

Obviously, not everything needs to be made from scratch. Obviously, you can buy a frozen dinner, canned soup, jar of salsa, etc. Obviously, these kinds of products make delicious food accessible to everyone no matter their ability, financial status, or level of energy or creativity. That kind of cooking is also easy. But… when I say that cooking is easy, here is what I mean:

You are capable of doing this if your heart is drawn to it. With some research and inspiration, you can make any dish come to life with your own two hands. Are you inspired by me? Then you can do it too. I am not a superhuman or a professional chef. I am a human being who loves to create and to eat, and I am guessing that you are too. Revel in the mindful act of combining flour and butter. Feel the power of holding a raw chicken in your hands, thank it for its sacrifice. Think deeply about the combinations of flavors and textures that you love. Bask in the glory of making something delicious and feeding it to yourself and others, watching their expression closely as they take their first bite. Be surprised at your ability, and soon you will see that it was much easier than you thought.

Recently, I made a pie crust from scratch and wouldn’t shut up about it because it was an exquisite experience from beginning to end. Let’s talk about why it’s easy and not something to be afraid of. Sure, you could buy it frozen, covered in plastic, made with preservatives. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things. But your heart and hands long to see if you can make it for yourself, don’t they? Trust me, it is easy.

You need three ingredients: butter, flour, and cold water. Maybe you don’t have the first two, and you will likely pay more for them than a single frozen pie crust; however, with that purchase, you will have enough ingredients to now make several pie crusts. Say your first one doesn’t come out quite right, or it does, and you instantly want to make more, like me.

Cube cold butter into a bowl of flour. Take them both up into your hands and squish them together. Pay close attention to the velvety soft flour against the cold, smooth butter. Put your entire being into this, taking the moment entirely for yourself. Feel the two begin to merge as one in every square centimeter of your hands, remember that you are alive. When it resembles wet sand, it’s time to add cold water. Mix it in by the tablespoon because it’s also easy to add too much.

This is the hardest part of the whole thing, and with much of cooking in general: you have to trust yourself and use your intuition, and if you go overboard, you have to learn from your mistakes and forgive yourself. Don’t overwork the dough, don’t overwork yourself. Mix by hand until it’s just able to hold together in your hands over the bowl. Smell the aroma of the butter and flour, it’s sweet and heavenly. Before you wrap it up and let it set in the fridge, admire what you just created. Let it ignite a fire within you that tells you this is just the beginning of what you are capable of.

When I say cooking is easy, I don’t mean that it comes together in sixty seconds or less by the push of a button. What I do mean is that it’s a learned skill that exists within us that has been intentionally washed away by convenience culture. We have been conned to think that food is complicated and that it’s a burden to prepare, when really it is a matter of preference and ability. We have been tricked into thinking that we are powerless creatures void of any creativity or ability, and that saving time and energy is the goal our existence, when really, it’s the opposite. Spending time on things, putting in efforts, reaping the rewards of your hard work, delayed gratification, these are the things that make life really fulfilling, are they not? Cooking is easy, trusting and believing in yourself is what’s hard