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Have you ever stopped to think about all the things that we simply DON’T DO anymore? Obviously, this will look a bit different based on the generation you grew up in, so you may need to pull up your own memories to create a list.
The task of preparing food at home, from scratch, is close to being added to the list of extinctions. With takeout options galore and grocery store convenience foods, it seems that our culture is quickly losing the art of preparing food at home, let alone from scratch. For me, the thought of cooking from scratch conjures up feelings of warmth, home, and comfort.
When’s the last time you felt that when you pulled a complete boxed meal out of the microwave or oven?
I was blessed in my childhood, up until I turned twelve years old, to have spent my summers with my great grandparents. As a little girl, I would stand or kneel on a chair in my great-grandma’s tiny kitchen and watch her make everything from scratch. I don’t recall ever seeing a box of premixed foods. When she baked a cake or a fresh loaf of bread, I witnessed an orchestra of ingredients being pulled together. She glided throughout the kitchen with grace, patience, and joy… making sure to include me in each culinary creation. She never seemed to mind the flour-furry that I created, the spilled milk, or eggs that hit the floor in a sticky explosion.
If you were lucky enough to have spent time in the kitchen with your parents, grandparents, and/or great grandparents, you would notice a progression in how our food preparation has shifted. At least it was this way for me. Let’s use good ole’ Mac n’ Cheese as an example. (one of my childhood favorites) Stepping back to my furthest memories, Great-grandma hands down made the world’s best Mac n’ Cheese, which was 100% made from scratch. Oh man, that cheesy sauce always sent me over the moon. I could drink that stuff. Every day for lunch, she would ask me what I wanted for lunch, and every day, my answer remained the same, “Mac n’ Cheese, please!”
When I would visit my Grandmother (great grandma’s daughter), it was a bit of a different story. Times were changing, and people were pulling away from cooking everything from scratch. Instead, Grandma leaned heavily on the boxed/processed side of things. When grandma made me Mac n’ Cheese, it was a mix of boxed and some fresh foods added to it. It was ok, nothing like what Great-grandma made me.
Then along came along my Mom’s generation. Our cupboards were lined with boxes, canned, prepared foods. When my mom would make Mac and Cheese, it was solely from a box. As you might have guessed, my taste for Mac n’ Cheese dwindled over the years. Nothing seemed to touch Great-grandmas. And there lay the memories of comfort food.
As you start to embark upon a whole food diet, especially one that is high raw, you will find yourself feeling a tad bit overwhelmed. (take a deep breath). The culinary skills you adapted before shifting your diet may become null and void. You will quickly find that the footprint you once traveled in a grocery has now changed. Your pantry will look baren as the number of boxed foods starts to fade away. You will question, “What the heck am I suppose to eat?!” and once you begin to learn the WHOLE meaning of whole foods, you will wonder, “Who the heck has time for this!” I hear you, and I get you. I was once there myself.
When people approach me, wanting to change their diet, I always suggest that they ease themselves into it. It takes time for the body to adjust to the increase of fiber and nutrients that your diet may have lacked before. But it also takes time for the brain to shift. It needs time to adjust its normal thought process on “what’s for dinner.”
I hope that some of what I shared resonates with you. Please know that you are not alone. I am here to help guide, support, and encourage you! blessings, amie sue
