Now you're cookin'

I've kind of started to wonder if one of the contributing factors for in people's lack of healthy diets isn't related to the death of home economics courses in school. Once upon a time, Home Ec was where a girl learned to make nutritious meals for her future husband and 2.5 kids. Then feminism came along, and girls were supposed to worry about supporting themselves, and getting out of the kitchen, and it was almost anti-feminist to know how to cook. If you don't know which end is the business bit of a stove, nobody can stick you in the kitchen and expect you to use one. It was almost self-defense.

But in the end? You still gotta eat. And whether you're a man or a woman, married or single, parent or not, the food's gotta come from somewhere. And if you don't know how to cook, you abdicate your responsiblity for your own body to whatever food purveyor will hand it to you. You don't know what's in there. You don't know how it will effect your body. And if you're in a restaurant, you probably don't know how many calories are on that plate. Plus, you are bound to whatever sort of food you can afford. And if all you can afford is cheap, I can guarantee it's not going to be very healthy.

And no. Nobody has time any more. But that doesn't rule out cooking. There are many healthy and nutritious meals that don't cost much, and can be done in a crockpot. And may actually take less time than it does to hit the Mickey D's. And if you cook enough for 2 meals, you slap half in the freezer for a double quick meal next week.

All things that I learned in Home Ec. Because I was in the border land where they opened up where you had a choice between Home Ec and shop, and there might be a boy in your Home Ec class. I think the boy that was in our class took it to meet chicks. Smart kid. Anyway, I was militant enough to not like the idea of Home Ec, but worried enough about not ending up being nicknamed "Stumpy" not to take shop. And in Home Ec I learned how to freeze a lasagna, and that when you're on a budget, beans and rice are your friends. But a lot of women my age and younger never learned how to cook. And a lot of them rely on boxed meals, frozen entrees and take-out. And some even seem to think there's something menial about knowing how to whip together a simple meal. And a lot of guys are even worse off.

Eventually we're going to have to get over cooking being "women's work", and realize that it's just a life skill. And it's just as important as knowing how to add and write a simple sentence. And has more to do with a person's health than if they participate in a sport. And is just as much a cultural activity as playing an instrument. And may play a bigger part in our nations recovery from the health crisis than any other single thing we do.