The Lowly Potato

I should not have been surprised to see the cooking instructions on a small package of potatoes. Perhaps it is just another sign of how out-of-touch my generation is with the younger set or maybe I am becoming a grumpy old man as She Who Must Be Obeyed has taken to calling me lately. But I had to say harrumph when I read how to boil potatoes. However, when I saw for the second time in seven minutes the TV advertisement for a micro-waved rice dinner the other night I understood why the potato people were putting cooking instructions on their bag of potatoes.

For some reason I had assumed that everyone would know how to cook a potato. You put them in a pot, cover with water, shake some salt into the pot and boil until done. It is more or less the same routine for cooking any vegetable on top of the stove. Cooking rice is a little trickier so I can see why the rice people went to the microwave method. The potato people have responded by wrapping larger potatoes in plastic and allowing you to give them the microwave treatment, however the traditional boiling method was obviously something not taught in cooking class.

The microwave oven is a marvellous invention and in this age of rushing to and fro, it saves those precious minutes so eagerly sought by the younger set. In the rice ad, the young woman sits down by herself in just two minutes (beating Uncle Ben by a full minute) and taking up some important reading material, eats her dinner by herself. Hubby arrives minutes later to cook his own delicious dinner of rice and other dehydrated goodies in his own microwave package. Little do they know what they are missing.

One of the things about the old method of cooking on a stovetop was the time it took. Experience teaches that the potatoes go on first, then the carrots, flowed by a decent interval to put the green beans in another pot. The meat, fish or chicken was already basking in the oven, filling the house with delightful smells. A little garlic, freshly crushed and added to the olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the salad, added to the olfactory ambience of the steaming kitchen. (Yes, you can make your own salad dressing!) While all this was happening, there might even be a minute to pour a glass of wine since all great chefs cook with wine. As the vegetables come to the desired tenderness, spices are added, pepper ground and a small dollop of butter crowns the dish.

The problem nowadays is the time it takes to prepare a meal when you have to rush out to an adult-organized sports event for the children or an evening class in origami. It is much easier to microwave a prepared dinner, eat and run. Whatever you do, do not read the label on the prepared packages, other than the cooking directions. You will search in vain for something called basil or oregano, even black pepper. Dehydrated garlic, onions and red peppers may be listed but you need to know their chemical formulae to be certain of them. You might find the breakdown for salt in its various forms but forget about the chemical derivatives of the butter substitute. The rice may be disguised as some modified starchy substance but do not worry about it. Do not even stop to consider what the little chewy coloured pieces are. Zap it and eat it.

Alas, the fast-food phenomena, once limited to McDonald’s, is coming in off the streets and invading the kitchens of the younger generations. Excepting the obviously over-weight ones, I suppose they look healthy enough now, these young people who never stop to eat a home-cooked meal, but the pleasure of cooking a well-balanced nutritious meal may be slipping away. Even my generation has lost the enjoyment of hunting and gathering; going also is the satisfaction of harvesting a crop of your own. Pick-your-own berry season is coming but the old back does not bend the way it used to. City bylaws forbid my keeping a few chickens and a milk cow or even a goat or two. Watering the garden only on alternative days seems to work, but when the bylaw official came around and warned me about dusting the potatoes, I gave up. He simply did not believe me that I was using flour, not some concoction from a chemical company.

Perhaps our only hope for home-cooking is with the potato people and their novel idea of putting cooking instructions on packages of vegetables. Maybe the carrot and beet people will take up the torch. Certainly, the Swiss chard people could use a tag of cooking instructions for novice chefs. The meat department might suggest ways to cook their items other than on the Barbie. Baking a pie or cake is too much to hope for right now – maybe in the future that fading art can be revived.

The current economic downturn may encourage more people to retreat to the kitchen and home cooking. Not only is it less expensive to dine in but people might even find it enjoyable. To the couple on TV eating their instant rice dinner, remember – the family that eats together stays together. (Although there is that old joke about sticky rice – but that’s another story . . .)