Styles of Cookery

Fri Jul 22 13:26:40 2005

It has been said recently that Jamie Oliver has done a lot for cookery. I'm not so sure. He might have done a good job with school dinners (though it will be a while before we see major changes here), but I am not sure that he has done a lot to make men cook.

Jamies style of cooking is very much show cooking. It involves the more expensive ingredients, stuffed together with much ceremony and the chance of personal expression in the way you just rip up the corriander. There is also a heavy emphasis on cool gadgets, and big shiney pans.

This is not cooking for everyday, but for special occasions (and often the food isn't sufficiently impressive for that, it is food for having your mates round, when pizza has got boring, and you have loads of time).

The question is, does this sort of cooking by blokes really help much? It makes everything dirty but there isn't a way of show-washing-up. It isn't economical to use regularly, so only gets brought out for special occasions. It also raises expectations for the rest of the time.

Generally, though Jamie Oliver has encouraged men to cook, it isn't sustainable, everyday cooking. Hence there is not so much of a change as we think to begin with.

This is based on discussions in the pub, so may cover ideas found elsewhere. I do not gaurantee that all my thoughts are my own.