Cooking is to gardening. . .
June 1st, 2009
Filed in Fruits, Veggies and Herbs
Tags: garden, vegetables
Amanda Hesser, of The New York Times, wrote a very interesting op-ed piece in the Sunday paper, published May 31, 2009. Called “The Commander in Chef” In the piece, she argues that, while it is lovely that Michelle Obama has planted an organic garden at the White House, and that will surely inspire more people to garden, in general, she could inspire healthy eating by many more people if she not only encouraged vegetable gardening, but also, cooking. I agree.
But, She has a Full Time Chef
Yes, Michelle Obama does have a full time chef. That’s because she’s the First Lady. She may, if so inclined, have enough time to scramble some eggs with onions and peppers thrown in the skillet, from time to time, but, overall, if her family is going to eat healthily in between meetings, events, travel, school, hosting the public, etc. they really have to have a chef. It is not their job to cook. It is their job to govern and serve as representatives of the United States 24/7/365, so, the Obama family can be pardoned if they don’t do a lot of their own cooking. But, just because they have a full time chef, doesn’t mean Michelle Obama can’t encourage cooking as the yin to gardening’s yang, or, as Hesser suggests, take her chef on the road to demonstrate healthy, easy to cook recipes. She could visit schools, the Today show, CNN, even (new) Leno.
Something Isn’t Right
Again, Michelle can be forgiven if she doesn’t actually do a whole lot of gardening. But, if she wants to look like she does a lot of gardening, or appear to be a regular ol’ gardening chip off the block, she needs to cook. The great fanfare with which the garden was planted has given way to. . .not much, really. Except for these snippets from recent interviews, quoted in Hesser’s article. (Quote below is from the article)
“However, when The Washington Post asked Mrs. Obama for her favorite recipe, she replied, ‘You know, cooking isn’t one of my huge things.’ And last month, when a boy who was visiting the White House asked her if she liked to cook, she replied: ‘I don’t miss cooking. I’m just fine with other people cooking.’ Though delivered lightheartedly, and by someone with a very busy schedule, the message was unmistakable: everyday cooking is a chore.”
This is why I say the whole “gardening at the White House” smells fishy: All of you gardeners out there know this to be true, I believe. That if you grow a huge garden full of bountiful, beautiful, colorful vegetables and fruits, you will want to cook them. You won’t, unless you are a farmer, want to sell them. You won’t want to spend hours and hours and hours of sweat and labor growing your veggie babies, only to just give them away to your neighbors without putting one in your mouth. You won’t just leave them in the garden to look pretty.
I grow some of my own veggies, but after reading Food Matters and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I’ve started going to my local Co-op and Farmer’s market each week. I buy enough vegetables, fruits, local eggs, dairy and meat, whole grains and fresh bread to last the week. When I get home from the farmer’s market, I process the veggies so that I can easily get to them during the week, without wrangling a lot of soil and inedible parts. Sunday nights, I cook my pot of oat groats (don’t knock ‘em ’till you’ve tried ‘em). I also grill, roast, etc. other veggies while I have the oven fired up and my husband is minding the grill. That way, grilled peppers or roasted beets are within easy reach when I’m tired after a long work day, and looking forward to an entire evening full of work after dinner.
Start Thinking like a Gardener
A real gardener, while pulling weeds and deadheading, dreams of new ways to eat the bundles of swiss chard and kale. A real gardener will devise hundreds of zucchini recipes, to eat your hundreds of zucchini. Michelle Obama needs to think like a gardener, not just like someone who believes gardening is “a good thing to do.” When she does that, she will not only inspire people to get in the dirt, but eat the fruits of their labors. I hope her PR office reads Hesser’s Op-ed. It isn’t an empty rant, but a constructive piece about how to further use the White House vegetable garden to influence the eating habits of the public. Hey Michelle-if you want some info about how to cook the stuff you grow quickly, easily and healthily, I am more than happy to share my recipes and techniques with you!
July 5th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I completely disagree that gardening and cooking are necessarily tied to each other. Can’t someone enjoy gardening just for the process and not the results? (Same as a cook good make something for the joy of watching others eat it and have no intention of parttaking themselves.) Can’t they just want to try it out to watch a seed grow to become something of use and beauty? Why is our society so focused on “ROI”? Just be in the moment.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:36 am
I don’t believe that you can’t cook without gardening and vice-versa, but earliest gardens were completely for food consumption or medicinal purposes. It is only recently that we have had enough time to consider gardening a “leisure” activity with no need for an ROI. Until the advent of cheap food in grocery stores, every garden was planted with the intention of eating the bounty.
Plus, I can’t imagine growing succulent, juicy tomatoes and then just letting them rot on the vine, or giving them away with nary a bite. That might, actually, cause me physical pain!
Finally, if you’ve ever grown vegetables, and you are a vegetable eater, you must have experienced the trauma of pest infestations, the anticipation of waiting for the first ripe cucumber, and the disappointment when asparagus season is over. To me, they are completely tied together-they might not be for everyone, but I think you would be hard-pressed to find very many vegetable gardeners that don’t eat what they grow.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:32 am
If I were the president or the president’s wife, and not a gardener or cook, I would look foolish taking it up just to prove a point. The president doesn’t have to be all things to all people. Besides, the White House has its gardeners, chefs, and who else tending to the garden and taking its bite of the tomato. Michelle Obama isn’t a gardener or a cook -so she should convert now? Maybe she’ll take it up in retirement. I’m sure she has plenty of interests that just aren’t the save the world thing of the moment. Really, take a step back and look.
Imagine requiring Hillary C. to have been gardening and cooking. Hard to, different time, wasn’t THE thing. Did the taste-makers complain that Laura Bush didn’t pray enough or shoot guns?
Puuullleeeaaassee. Gardeners do more every day to promote gardening than any first lady going perennial on us.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:46 am
I’m not saying the veggies grown would go to waste and just be left to rot — just that the one growing does not actually haveto be the one consuming or preparing them to be a great gardener. You may grow them as I do to give them directly to the soup kitchen up the street or as a neighbor does to have presents for everyone. He detests eating squash himself, bt so easy to grow and he gives it away by the bag full.
July 7th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Kathy-does he indulge in the “summer squash drop and dash?”
I always tell my neighbors to WATCH OUT when the squash is on, because they will find piles of it in their cars, if they don’t lock them, or in their mail boxes, etc. (Just kidding, sort of!)
Frank-I think it would be awesome if the White House Chef went on tour-Michelle or no Michelle. I agree that she probably has no time to garden OR cook. Regardless of who is in the White House, it is never a bad idea for somebody there to champion healthy eating-and the things that go into it!
But, we all have our own opinions, which is a good thing! Happy gardening to you both. Thank you for visiting!
July 8th, 2009 at 7:07 am
I suppose its all about form, and in a democracy, we are looking to mold the form to meet our needs and desires every new president. Somehow, perception allows me to imagine a British Queen out gardening. An American president/first lady, only if they are born gardeners.
However, the way the media has had access to this president, I fully expect to see their chef hit the road, maybe in August when the tomatoes are bountiful. Who was the last gardener in the white house? Anybody know? Most of us would probably say Lady Bird J.
Reality lies in policy. We need real, new policy regarding food production/distribution in the US. The formal presentation of the food growing and eating by the white house should come after that policy, or it is empty display.
By the way, Katie -I can email you that recipe -which I just made up on the spot. Everything goes good with tomato sauce.