Care about the elements

Just recently I was reading about Chinese dish composition. The chinese are probably leaders in the field of transposing social philosophy into cooking. The Chinese always balance the Yin and Yang in a dish they serve. BTW this always a good way to detemine a good Chinese restaurant.

This got me thinking about us occidentals. It seems like, in the recent past, our society has evolved towards sillowing philosophy and cooking. More and more are cardboard box products displayed on our supermarket’s shelves and we seem to loose our grasp on the essentials.

Sure we can blame this on advertising and large corporations’ influences, but really, the only guilty ones are oursleves. We as individuals have started to consume all-ready made products exponentially.

Get back to the basics, I say. Can you put a name on the producer of the olive oil you use. Do you know where and who grew the tomatoes you are eating. More often than not we can’t. This is truly our primary mistake.

Caring also reaches a greater spectrum of cooking values. Some of you who know me well, know that my cooking is largely influenced by asian and italian traditions. One of the greatest thing I have learned in my cooking life is caring about the ingredients you have on hand. If you have a piece of meat which is a bit tougher, do give it the attention it deserves to tenderize it. Marinade it appropriatly and cook it slowly with the respect it deserves. Do not, ever, add a bunch of chemical sauces and fry it. You need to care about the process of making this rougher gem the diamond it can become.

So, to conclude, this is one of the founding principals of this website. It is just as valid as a social philosophy as a cooking inspiration. Caring about the elements we work with in our daily lives is essential to our well-being.

I look forward to your comments!