Why you need to cook at home now more than ever
Variety is fine, in fact good for us, but aiming for a good balance is important.
A colleague has written an extensive and very well-researched piece about shrinking kitchens in the latest issue of India Today and it hits the nail on the head. It speaks about how much less we are cooking today, and consequently how much more we are ordering in, or is it vice versa?
When she spoke to me to get a nutritionist's perspective, I gave the matter a lot of thought; well, it's been obvious for a while now - every successive generation is using the gas stove less and less and microwave (to reheat) more and more - but when you seriously consider the situation, you realise just how serious and "big" the change has actually been for this (our) generation.
Most of us gave up on self-cooking long time back (now we cook for a change, only when we feel like it), and are now in the process of giving up on hired help too (maids, bawarchis, khansamas...) and switching to ordering in or eating out more often. The reasons mostly fit this list: an evolving palate, desire to try out varied stuff, promise of easy access to good, interesting, different food that's hygienic too, better buying power, and most importantly the ease and convenience (just pick up the phone and order) and of course non-availability of good household help. Then, there are people I know, who refuse to cook during summers, as they can't stand the heat, and there are others who order in dinners all through winters, as they find it too cold in the evenings to cook.
The psychological reasons are contributing a lot too. Over the years I feel, we have slowly but surely broken out of the earlier taught exemplar: "Food from outside is bad for us", and slowly also become dependent on food that's not cooked in our kitchens.
Basically, the age old program - home food is the best - that our elders and society had "coded" us with, has been shunted out and replaced by - convenience and taste over everything else (health included). That's why the guilt and ill effects don't register anymore (at least not till something begins to go wrong with our body). Try telling a teenager why ordering a pizza yet again is not good for him... and you'll know what I mean. They just don't buy it! For that matter, nor do the adults anymore.
So is it wrong to order in?
The answer cannot be a blanket yes or no here. I personally feel that it is a huge loss (my forthcoming book due out early next year has an entire chapter devoted to why we need to cook more at home) for the simple fact that we just cannot control (for sure) both the quality and the quantity of the ingredients when it is not cooked at home.
Hygiene thankfully can now be ensured, but that is just one part of food preparation; the oil used, also its quantity, the amount of salt, sugar added, the freshness of the ingredients... all matter... especially when we are talking about long run (multiple meals over a lifetime), as the damages obviously add up. And besides physical, there's impact on our "being" as well; I had mentioned in an earlier column about a study which proves the benefits of eating shared big meals.
Well, so, my answer here is: variety is fine, in fact good for us, but aiming for a good balance is important. A good equation would be to eat home food 60-75 per cent of time and order in rest of the time. The other (easier) way can be to ensure at least two main meals every day as home-cooked food, and let one be not that. This way both nutrition can be ensured and calories can be kept tamed.
Also be super careful about where you are ordering from (a balanced home-style thali meal is obviously a better idea compared to a burger; similarly ordering an elaichi shrikhand or a chocolate oat smoothie is a better deal than ordering a fat-refined flour filled doughnut)
So what's the best way to eat for people who are short of time to cook?
I say switch to smart cooking. Some tips that help me personally:
1. Invest in smart health gadgets: I find steamer, soup maker, sprout maker, rice cooker and kitchen scissors very helpful.
2. Make one-pot recipes; put ingredients in a slow cooker - most require hardly any preparation - and wrap up other work, or go watch a movie; it'll be ready when you are back.
3. Prepare in advance. Weekends, or an evening spent planning the weekly menu and preparing for it goes a long way.
4. Make a recipe book (can do on the computer or the phone too) of no cook and easy to cook recipes; scout out easier recipes for mouth-watering kormas, biryanis, soups, interesting dips and sandwich/roti stuffings and more and keep handy. These go a long way in helping.